Apparent discrepancy between the insulin secretory responses in vivo and in vitro in carbohydrate-intolerant Sand rats.

A subpopulation (n = 27) of normoglycaemic Sand rats was characterized as carbohydrate-intolerant by intraperitoneal glucose loading. Five of these animals did not show any rise in peripheral insulin concentrations when injected with glucose. However, when isolated by collagenase digestion their islets still exhibited a significant enhancement of insulin secretion in response to glucose, glyceraldehyde, mannose and theophylline. The in vitro secretory responses were comparable to those of islets from carbohydrate-tolerant Sand rats. The results underline the importance of the natural environment for the B-cell response in vivo.