Reduced somatostatin signalling leads to hypersecretion of glucagon in mice fed a high fat diet

Elevated plasma glucagon is an early symptom of diabetes, occurring in subjects with impaired glucose regulation. Here we explored alpha-cell function in female mice fed a high fat diet (HFD) - a widely used mouse model of pre-diabetes. In vivo, HFD-fed mice have increased fed plasma glucagon levels that are unaffected by elevation of plasma glucose. To explore the underlying mechanisms, we conducted experiments on isolated islets and in the perfused pancreas. In both experimental models, glucagon secretion under both hypo- and hyperglycaemic conditions was elevated. Because Ca2+ is an important intracellular regulator of glucagon release in alpha-cells, we fed mice expressing the Ca2+ indicator GCaMP3 specifically in alpha-cells the HFD. In mice fed a control (CTL) diet, increasing glucose reduced intracellular Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) (oscillation frequency and amplitude). This effect was not observed in HFD mice where both the frequency and amplitude of the [Ca2+]i oscillations were higher than in CTL alpha-cells. Given that alpha-cells are under strong paracrine control from neighbouring somatostatin-secreting delta-cells, we hypothesised that this elevation of alpha-cell output was due to a lack of somatostatin (SST) secretion. Indeed, SST secretion in isolated islets from HFD mice was reduced but exogenous SST also failed to suppress glucagon secretion and Ca2+ activity from HFD alpha-cells, in contrast to observations in CTL mice. These findings suggest that reduced delta-cell function, combined with intrinsic changes in alpha-cell sensitivity to somatostatin, accounts for the hyperglucagonaemia in mice fed a HFD.