Islet amyloglucosidase activity: some characteristics, and its relation to insulin secretion stimulated by various secretagogues.

: The glucose-producing amylolytic activity in pancreatic islet tissue was characterized with regard to its properties with glycogen (amyloglucosidase) and maltose (maltase) as substrate, its optimum activity in islets from different strains of mice (NMRI, CBA and C-57BL) and after fasting, and its relation to the insulin secretory response after different secretagogues in vivo. Additionally the effects and fate of injected fungal acid amyloglucosidase were assessed. In the pancreatic islets of NMRI mice both the glycogen-splitting activity and the maltose-splitting activity displayed latency and an acid pH-optimum of about 5.0. After differential centrifugation a significant part of amyloglucosidase activity was found to be confined to the mitochondrial-lysosomal fraction. In crude islet homogenate the apparent Km for maltose at pH 5.0 was 2.1 mM. No Km for glycogen could be given because of complex kinetics in the presence of this substrate. The maltase activity was about 30% lower than the amyloglucosidase activity in islet tissue from NMRI mice. The reverse pattern was observed in the liver. Moreover, the liver amyloglucosidase activity was only one fourth of that of the islet tissue. The amyloglucosidase but not the maltase activity in islet tissue from CBA mice was lower than in islets from NMRI mice. Both activities were very low in islets from C-57 mice. A 24 hr fasting period reduced the amyloglucosidase but not the maltase activity in islets from NMRI mice. The insulin secretory response in vivo to an i.v. arginine load in the different strains and after fasting displayed the same pattern as the islet amyloglucosidase activity, whereas the insulin response following a glucagon injection was largest in the C-57 strain and unaffected by the fasting state. Pretreatment of mice with 0.05 mumol/kg of highly purified fungal amyloglucosidase, moderately (about 35%) enhanced the insulin secretory response to arginine, did not affect the response to glucagon, and greatly (about 100%) enhanced the response to glucose and tolbutamide. Moreover, treatment of mice with lysosomal stabilizers (glucocorticoids) reduced the insulin response to sulphonylureas and glucose, had no effect on the insulin response to beta-adrenergic and cholinergic stimulation, and increased ACTH-induced insulin release. A lysosomal labilizer (progesterone) enhanced the insulin response induced by glucose and tolbutamide.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)