Evidence of Cosecretion of Islet Amyloid Polypeptide and Insulin by β-Cells

Islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) has been identified as the major constituent of the pancreatic amyloid of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and is also present in normal β-cell secretory granules. To determine whether IAPP is a pancreatic secretory product, we measured the quantity of lAPP-like immunoreactivity (IAPP-LI), insulin, and glucagon released into 5 ml of incubation medium during a 2-h incubation of monolayer cultures (n = 5) of neonatal (3- to 5-day-old) Sprague-Dawley rat pancreases under three conditions: 1.67 mM glucose, 16.7 mM glucose, and 16.7 mM glucose plus 10 mM arginine and 0.1 mM isobutylmethylxanthine (IBMX). The quantity of IAPP-LI, insulin, and glucagon in the cell extract was also determined. Mean ± SE IAPP-LI in the incubation medium increased from 0.041 ± 0.003 pmol in 1.67 mM glucose to 0.168 ± 0.029 pmol in 16.7 mM glucose (P < 0.05) and 1.02 ± 0.06 pmol in 16.7 mM glucose plus arginine and IBMX (P < 0.05 vs. 1.67 or 16.7 mM glucose). Insulin secretion increased similarly from 4.34 ± 0.27 to 20.2 ± 0.6 pmol (P < 0.05) and then to 135 ± 5 pmol (P < 0.05 vs. 1.67 or 16.7 mM glucose). Glucagon release tended to decrease with the increase in glucose concentration (0.39 ± 0.01 vs. 0.33 ± 0.02 pmol, P < 0.1), whereas with the addition of arginine and IBMX to high glucose, glucagon release increased to 1.32 ± 0.03 pmol (P < 0.05 vs. 1.67 or 16.7 mM glucose). Thus, the molar proportion of IAPP-LI to insulin secreted in low glucose was ∼1% and did not differ significantly with stimulation (0.95 ± 0.08 vs. 0.84 ± 0.15 vs. 0.76 ± 0.05%). In contrast, there was no constant proportional relationship between the release of IAPP-LI and glucagon (10.6 ± 0.8 vs. 51.3 ± 8.7 vs. 77.5 ± 5.2%). After incubation in 1.67 mM glucose, the extracted cells contained 3.7 ± 0.2 pmol IAPP-LI, 944 ± 25 pmol insulin, and 28.2 ±1.5 pmol glucagon. After maximal stimulation, the fractional release of IAPP-LI was 26.7 ± 0.7% vs. 14.7 ± 0.6% of insulin and 4.4 ± 0.2% of glucagon. These data indicate that nondiabetic neonatal rat islet cultures contain IAPP-LI and release it after stimulation by glucose and nonglucose secretagogues. Furthermore, the data suggest that IAPP-LI is a product of the β-cell, which coreleases it with insulin in a molar ratio of ∼1.100.