Correction of diabetic pattern of insulin release from islets of the spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus) by glucose priming in vitro.

Insulin release kinetics were studied in perifused islets of Langerhans, isolated from mildly hyperglycaemic and from normoglycaemic spiny mice (Acomys cahirinus), a rodent predisposed to develop spontaneously non-ketotic diabetes. In both groups, insulin response to glucose (16.7 mmol/l) was delayed in comparison with that of rat islets, the release kinetics being analogous to that of human Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes. Thirty min priming of the isolated Acomys islets with glucose (16.7 mmol/l) resulted in potentiation of the insulin release to a second stimulation. The degree of potentiation decreased exponentially with the time interval between stimulations, showing a t1/2 of 18 min. Induction of potentiation by glucose was time-dependent, giving a maximal effect after 20 min of priming. In addition to overall amplification of the insulin response, priming with glucose accelerated markedly the initial release rates, correcting the dynamics of the response. We conclude that: (1) decreased and delayed insulin secretion is found in Acomys cahirinus before the development of hyperglycaemia; (2) induction of time-dependent potentiation in the islet by priming with glucose corrects the diabetic-type dynamics of insulin release; (3) therefore the deficient insulin release of Acomys is of a functional nature, the mechanism of potentiation bypassing the defect; (4) since insulin release in Acomys resembles that in prediabetic and diabetic man, similar conclusions might apply to the islet dysfunction in Type 2 diabetes.