Effects of D-mannoheptulose upon D-glucose metabolism in tumoral pancreatic islet cells.

D-[3H]mannoheptulose was recently reported to be poorly taken up by tumoral pancreatic islet cells of the RINm5F and INS-1 lines. We have now investigated the effects of D-mannoheptulose upon D-glucose metabolism in these two cell lines. D-mannoheptulose (1.0-10.0 mM) only caused a minor decrease of D-glucose metabolism in RINm5F cells, whether at low (1.1 mM) or higher (8.3 mM) D-glucose concentration. A comparable situation was found in INS-1 cells examined after more than 20 passages. In both cases, however, the hexaacetate ester of D-mannoheptulose (5.0 mM) efficiently inhibited D-glucose metabolism. In the INS-1 cells, the relative extent of the inhibitory action of D-mannoheptulose upon D-glucose metabolism increased from 12.4 +/- 2.6 to 38.3 +/- 3.8% as the number of passages was decreased from more than 20 to 13-15 passages, the latter percentage remaining lower, however, than that recorded in INS-I cells also examined after 13-15 passages but exposed to D-mannoheptulose hexaacetate (66.9 +/- 2.2%). These findings when compared to our recent measurements of D-[3H]mannoheptulose uptake, reinforce the view that the entry of the heptose into cells and, hence, its inhibitory action on D-glucose metabolism are dictated by expression of the GLUT2 gene.