. Glucose metabolism and glutamate analog acutely alkalinize pH of insulin secretory vesicles of pancreatic -cells. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 285: E262-E271, 2003. First published March 18, 2003 10.1152/ajpendo.00542.2002We studied acute changes of secretory vesicle pH in pancreatic -cells with a fluorescent pH indicator, lysosensor green DND-189. Fluorescence was decreased by 0.66 Ϯ 0.10% at 149 Ϯ 16 s with 22.2 mM glucose stimulation, indicating that vesicular pH was alkalinized by ϳ0.016 unit. Glucose-responsive pH increase was observed when cytosolic Ca 2ϩ influx was blocked but disappeared when an inhibitor of glycolysis or mitochondrial ATP synthase was present. Glutamate dimethyl ester (GME), a plasma membrane-permeable analog of glutamate, potentiated glucose-stimulated insulin secretion at 5 mM without changing cellular ATP content or cytosolic Ca 2ϩ concentration ([Ca 2ϩ ]). Application of GME at basal glucose concentration decreased DND-189 fluorescence by 0.83 Ϯ 0.19% at 38 Ϯ 2 s. These results indicated that the acutely alkalinizing effect of glucose on -cell secretory vesicle pH was dependent on glucose metabolism but independent of modulations of cytosolic [Ca 2ϩ ]. Moreover, glutamate derived from glucose may be one of the mediators of this alkalinizing effect of glucose, which may have potential relevance to the alteration of secretory function by glutamate. glutamate metabolism; alkalinization of vesicular pH; regulation of insulin secretion INSULIN SECRETION from pancreatic -cells in response to extracellular glucose is essential for maintenance of systemic glucose homeostasis. Although a pathway to trigger Ca 2ϩ influx into the cytosol via glucose metabolism, ATP generation, and a closure of the ATP-sensitive potassium (K ATP ) channels is of prime importance for glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (5,16, 31,56), this central paradigm cannot explain some aspects of the secretory pathway. Thus it is known that an increase in glucose concentrations further enhances insulin secretion when cytosolic Ca 2ϩ concentration ([Ca 2ϩ ]) is fixed at higher levels in the presence of depolarizing concentration of KCl and the K ATP channel opener diazoxide (19,45). Moreover, in -cells that were permeabilized with ␣-toxin and exposed to relatively high cytosolic [Ca 2ϩ ] and ATP concentration ([ATP]), substrates for the mitochondrial tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle induced a substantial increase in insulin secretion (28). These results indicate that metabolic derivatives from the TCA cycle might positively modulate glucosestimulated insulin secretion. Lipid metabolites synthesized from glucose-derived citrate through acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA are among the intriguing molecular candidates for this potentiation mechanism (12,40,41).Recently, two important findings were reported regarding a relationship between glutamate metabolism and insulin secretion. A new form of persistent hyperinsulinemia with hypoglycemia of the infant (PHHI) was demonstrated to be caused by an excessive activity ...