Guinea pigs injected with streptozotocin showed temporary hyperglycemia and retardation of body growth. One month after streptozotocin injection the islets of Langerhans of these animals consisted mainly of A 2 -cells. Compared to the control animals the nuclei of the B- and A 1 -cells were increased in size. Microrespirometric analyses of the isolated islets from streptozotocin-treated animals showed that the endogenous respiratory rate was in the same range as that of islets from the controls. Addition of D-glucose to the incubation medium caused a stronger stimulation of the oxygen uptake in the control islets than in the islets from the streptozotocin-treated animals. However, when the medium was supplemented with succinate the islets from the latter animals had a higher oxygen uptake. The predominance of A 2 -cells in these islets supports the idea that the results are representative mainly for this cell type. The results may thus reflect a fundamental difference in the metabolism between the Band A 2 -cells.
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Petersson et al. (1970) studied this question.