Effects of a diabetogenic strain of encephalomyocarditis (EMC) virus on protein synthesis in mouse islets of Langerhans.

The effects of a diabetogenic strain of encephalomyocarditis (EMC) virus on total protein and insulin biosynthesis in mouse islets of Langerhans have been studied in tissue culture. In dispersed mouse islets, the rates of protein biosynthesis were assessed by measuring the incorporation of [3H]leucine into proteins. In infected dispersed islets incubated in 20 mM-glucose, both insulin and total protein biosynthesis were decreased at 6 h; only insulin biosynthesis was significantly decreased at 3 h. In whole islets, EMC virus brought about a decrease in glucose-stimulated protein and insulin biosynthesis as early as 2 h after infection without concomitant effects on insulin release. This inhibition of protein biosynthesis was still apparent at 20 h post-infection, at which time insulin release was found to be markedly elevated, and the islet insulin content was moderately decreased. At 44 h post-infection, glucose-induced insulin biosynthesis was preferentially inhibited. Infected islets at this later time point also displayed elevated levels of insulin release, and a marked loss of islet insulin content. When insulin mRNA and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) mRNA levels were assessed by dot-blot hybridization using appropriate cDNA probes, levels of insulin mRNA were shown to decrease steadily during the first 20 h of infection, in contrast with the levels of GAPDH mRNA. At 44 h post-infection, both types of mRNA were markedly decreased. It is suggested that there is an initial early 'shut-off' of protein synthesis without other detectable changes in islet function. This is followed by a phase where both insulin mRNA levels and insulin synthesis are dramatically decreased.