Effect of a phospho-oligosaccharidic putative insulin messenger on insulin release in rats

The phospho-oligosaccharide extracted from rat liver and supposed to act as the insulin second messenger inhibits glucose-stimulated insulin release. In the present study, this phospho-oligosaccharide was found not to affect D-[U-14C]glucose oxidation and 45Ca net uptake, but to inhibit insulin release evoked by either D-glucose or 2-ketoisocaproate in isolated rat islets. The relative extent of the latter inhibition was unaffected by either the concentration of D-glucose or the presence of dibutyryl-cyclic AMP, forskolin or glucagon in the incubation medium. At variance with the inhibitory effect of clonidine, that of the phospho-oligosaccharide was resistant to both blockade of alpha 2-adrenergic receptors or pre-treatment with the toxin of Bordetella pertussis. It is speculated, therefore, that such a phospho-oligosaccharide might interfere with a distal event in the insulin secretory sequence.