Function of microdissected pancreatic islets cultured in a chemically defined medium. I. Insulin content and release.

Microdissected pancreatic islets from non-inbred ob/ob-mice were cultured for 6 or 7 days in serum-free tissue culture medium 199. The insulin content of the islets decreased 60% during culture in 17 mM or 28 mM glucose and about 70% in the presence of 3.3 mM or 5.6 mM glucose. At the end of a culture period in high glucose, the sum of the insulin in the islet plus that in the culture medium was almost twice as high as the insulin content of fresh islets, indicating an active insulin biosynthesis. The maximal insulin response to glucose after culture in 17 mM or 28 mM glucose was about 40% of that in fresh islets; after culture in 3.3 mM glucose it was 10%. Half-maximal stimulation was observed at a glucose concentration of 5 mM for islets cultured with high glucose as compared to 9 mM for fresh islets. Like glucose, glibenclamide was a more effective insulin stimulator after culture with a high glucose concentration than with a low one. However, leucine-induced insulin release was not affected by the glucose concentration in the preceding culture medium. Whereas potentiation of glucose-stimulated release by arginine or dibutyryl-cAMP was independent of glucose concentration during the culture, theophylline released three times more insulin when the islets had been cultured with high glucose.