Metabolic response of teleost hepatocytes to glucagon-like peptide and glucagon

Salmon glucagon-like peptide (GLP), bovine glucagon (B-glucagon) and anglerfish glucagon (AF-glucagon), all activate glucose production in teleost hepatocytes through gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis, but notable species differences exist in their respective effectiveness. In trout hepatocytes, gluconeogenesis appears to be the main target of hormone action. In eel cells, sampled in November, glycogenolysis was activated threefold, while gluconeogenesis was increased by 12% only. In March, glycogenolytic activation was 1.7-fold, while gluconeogenesis was increased by about 1.7-fold after exposure to B-glucagon. In brown bullhead cells, increases in glycogenolysis from seven- (GLP) to tenfold (B- and AF-glucagon) were noted, while activation of gluconeogenesis was slight. Fragments of two AF-glucagons (19-29) revealed only insignificant metabolic activity. Treatment of eel cells with B-glucagon led to large (up to 20-fold) increases in intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) concentrations, while exposure to GLP was accompanied by a modest (less than twofold) increase in cAMP, although metabolic effectiveness (gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis) was similar for the two treatments. Under identical conditions, brown bullhead cellular cAMP responded poorly. Levels of cAMP peaked within 15 min following hormone application. The results imply that no simple or direct relationship exists between the amount of intracellular cAMP and the metabolic action of the glucagon family of hormones. It can further be concluded that GLPs are important regulators of hepatic metabolism, influencing identical targets as glucagon, while the mechanisms of action seem to differ.