ISOMERIC AND ANOMERIC SPECIFICITY OF HEXOSE PENTAACETATE HYDROLYSIS IN RAT PANCREATIC-ISLET HOMOGENATES

At a concentration of 1.7 mM, the pentaacetate eaters of both metaboli zed hexoses (e.g. D-glucose) and certain non-nutrient hexoses (e.g. L- glucose and 2-deoxy-D-glucose) exert a positive insulinotropic action in rat pancreatic islets. We have now investigated the esterase-cataly sed hydrolysis of these eaters in islet homogenates. Such a hydrolysis displayed both isomeric and anomeric specificity. Despite some analog y between the velocity of the enzymatic reaction in islet homogenates and the insulinotropic efficiency of the eaters in intact islets, it s eems unlikely that the rate of eater hydrolysis represents the sole, o r even major, determinant of the islet B-cell secretory response to he xose pentaacetates. Med Sci Res 26:489-490 (C) 1998 Lippincott-Raven P ublishers.