Physiological effect of glucagon in human isolated adipocytes.

In human isolated adipocytes, glucagon induces a dose dependent increment of the glycerol release, which is already observed at physiological concentrations of the hormone. Furthermore, glucagon at 10(-8) M, significantly stimulates the adenylate cyclase activity in both non-solubilized and solubilized fat plasma membranes, and at already 10(-11) M, a significant increment of the adipocyte cAMP content is observed. These data support previous in vivo positive results indicating that glucagon plays a role in human fat metabolism.