Energy Requirements for Insulin Release from Rat Pancreasin Vitro

Experiments have been carried out to determine whether insulin release from rat pancreas in vitro was dependent on energy supply and, if so, to evaluate the contribution of glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation to the energy requirements of secretion. For this purpose, pancreatic pieces were incubated with various metabolic inhibitors and, at the end of incubation, the immunoreactive insulin released into the medium was measured by a radioimmunoassay technique. The results indicate that: 1) insulin synthesis and release are separable processes which can be independently regulated; 2) glucose-evoked release of insulin is an energydependent process; and 3) energy requirement for insulin secretion is supplied by the operation of oxidative phosphorylation. (Endocrinology87: 84, 1970) LITTLE information is available on the 1 fundamental mechanism by which glucose stimulates the secretion of insulin.