Summary
Isolated mouse pancreatic islets were maintained in tissue culture for up to 12 days in glucose concentrations varying between 3.3 and 28 ml. A satisfactory ultrastructural preservation of the islet cells was found irrespective of the glucose concentration of the culture medium. While the B-cells of islets cultured in the lower glucose concentration showed slight degranulation, there was extensive degranulation and increased amounts of rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum after culture in the higher glucose concentration. The immunoreactive insulin content of islets cultured at 28 mM glucose was markedly decreased and the insulin secretion during the culture period was much higher than that of islets cultured at 3.3 mM glucose. The insulin biosynthesis, as reflected in the incorporation of3H-leucine into gel chromatographed extracts of acid-ethanol soluble islet proteins, was studied either during the culture period or at the end of a 6-day culture in short-term incubations lasting for 90 or 180 min. The results consistently showed that the biosynthesis of insulin proceeded at a high rate and remained regulated by glucose throughout the culture period. The continuous addition of newly synthesized and labelled insulin to the small intracellular insulin pool of the high-glucose cultured B-cells produced a very high specific radioactivity of the insulin.
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Andersson, A., Westman, J. & Hellerström, C. Effects of glucose on the ultrastructure and insulin biosynthesis of isolated mouse pancreatic islets maintained in tissue culture. Diabetologia 10, 743–753 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01219536
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01219536