Theophylline: potentiation of arginine-induced somatostatin release from the isolated rat pancreas.

Somatostatin's release from the isolated rat pancreas was studied using a perfusion technique. Arginine at a concentration of 19 mM produced a biphasic increase in somatostatin release from the perfused rat pancreas. Both first and second phases of somatostatin's increase are significantly higher in the presence of 1 mM theophylline than in the absence of the drug. These results indicate the possible inclusion of the adenylate cyclase--cyclic AMP system in the regulatory mechanism of rat pancreatic somatostatin secretion.