Aging enhances inhibitory action of somatostatin in rat pancreas.

This study examines the effects of donor age on exogenous somatostatin inhibition of insulin secretion stimulated by 10 mM D-glyceraldehyde and by 20 mM beta-D-glucose in isolated perfused rat pancreas. Both 6 and 30 nM synthetic somatostatin-14 affect both glyceraldehyde- and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion to a greater degree in pancreases from old animals (24-27 months) than in those from young (2-5 months). We conclude that an increased sensitivity to inhibitory actions of somatostatin during aging, observed in pituitary tissues in vitro, occurs in pancreatic tissues as well and may constitute a general phenomenon in tissues subject to somatostatin inhibition.