Lipids may serve as coupling factors in K ATP -independent glucose sensing in -cells. We have previously demonstrated that -cells harbor lipase activities, one of which is the hormone-sensitive lipase. Whether -cell lipases are critical for glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) by providing lipid-derived signals from endogenous lipids is unknown. Therefore, using a lipase inhibitor (orlistat), we examined whether lipase inhibition reduces insulin secretion. Islet lipolysis stimulated by glucose and diglyceride lipase activity was abolished by orlistat. Incubation of rat islets with orlistat dose dependently inhibited GSIS; this inhibition was reversed by 1 mmol/l palmitate, suggesting that orlistat acts via impaired formation of an acylglyceride-derived coupling signal. Orlistat inhibited the potentiating effect of forskolin on GSIS, an effect proposed to be due to activation of a lipase. In perifused islets, orlistat attenuated mainly the second phase of insulin secretion. Because the rise in islet ATP/ADP levels in response to glucose and oxidation of the sugar were unaffected by orlistat whereas the second phase of insulin secretion was reduced, it seems likely that a lipid coupling factor involved in K ATP -independent glucose sensing has been perturbed. Thus, -cell lipase activity is involved in GSIS, emphasizing the important role of -cell lipid metabolism for insulin secretion.
Diabetes 53:122-128, 2004A large body of evidence suggests that lipids are required for appropriate glucose sensing in pancreatic -cells. For instance, when triglycerides in pancreatic islets are depleted by hyperleptinemia, pancreatic -cells fail to release insulin (1). Along similar lines, perfused pancreas from fasted rats is unresponsive to a rise in glucose (2). Importantly, in both cases, glucose responsiveness is reinstated by the addition of exogenous fatty acids.The current view holds that lipids serve as coupling factors in glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) that does not rely on closure of the ATP-sensitive K ϩ channel (K ATP independent) (3). These putative mechanisms presumably drive the second phase of GSIS and accordingly have been termed as amplifying (4), and the coupling factors have been proposed to emanate from intermediary metabolism in the -cell (5). Against this background, lipids have become attractive candidates for coupling factors in K ATP -independent glucose sensing. In fact, a model has been proposed to delineate the combined events in metabolism of glucose and lipids that result in a dose-dependent regulation of insulin secretion, the socalled long-chain acyl-CoA hypothesis (3). This model is based on the observations that an increase in glucose metabolism in -cells results in decreased oxidation of fats while esterification of lipids increases. As a consequence, the levels of complex lipids rise, perhaps acyl-CoA moieties, which then act as a signaling molecules coupling stimulus to secretion in the -cell. We have previously demonstrated that different preparations of -cells...