Sex effect on insulin secretion and mitochondrial function in pancreatic beta cells of elderly Wistar rats

Glucose tolerance progressively declines with age, and there is a high prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the elderly people. Previous studies have reported the sex differences in risk for type 2 diabetes, especially in the elderly people, whereas reasons for these sex differences remain poorly understood. This study aims to evaluate the effect of sex on glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and mitochondrial function in pancreatic beta cells of Wistar rats.

3-month-old and 18-month-old Wistar rats of both sexes were used. Insulin secretion of islets was analyzed by glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and islet perifusion assays; ATP content and oxygen consumption rate of islets were determined to evaluate the mitochondrial function.

Insulin secretion of islets under high glucose conditions declined significantly with age in both sexes. Glucose-stimulated insulin secretion of elderly female groups was markedly higher than that of male groups under high glucose conditions. Importantly, islets from elderly female groups showed higher mitochondrial function compared with male counterparts, evidenced by higher ATP content and oxygen consumption rate under high glucose conditions. It was also noted that mitochondrial biogenesis of islets from elderly female rats was significant higher compared with male rats. There were notable increases in expression of genes involved in mitochondrial biogenesis in islets from elderly female rats compared with male rats.

This study demonstrates a sex dimorphism in the age-associated impairment of pancreatic beta cell function in elderly rats, while the potential mechanism may be related to the sexual differences in mitochondrial biogenesis and function.