Effect of partial hepatectomy on glucose-stimulated insulin release from perfused rat pancreas.

To investigate the functional reserve of the endocrine pancreas both in the early and in the recovering stage after partial hepatectomy, we evaluated the changes in the secretion of insulin in response to a glucose load in isolated perfused rat pancreas 4 and 7 d after about 70% hepatectomy in rats. Insulin responses to a high glucose load (16.7 mM) were significantly higher in the first stimulation phase (first 10 min (p less than 0.01 at 4 and 7 d), and the second stimulation phase (second 20 min) (p less than 0.01 at 4 and 7 d), after hepatectomy. These results indicate that in the regenerating stage after hepatectomy, the sensitivity of islet B-cells to a glucose load is increased to support the increased glucose metabolism in this stage. Thus, this insulin hypersecretion from B-cells seems to be among the adaptations of the endocrine pancreas after hepatectomy.