Phospholipase C and melittin enhancement of glucose-induced electrical activity

The influence of exogenous phospholipase C and melittin on electrical activity in islet B cells was determined to assess the extent to which polyphosphatidylinositol turnover serves to generate components that influence the electrical events in the plasma membrane. Phospholipase C hydrolyzes polyphosphatidylinositol to diacylglycerol and polyphosphoinositol, whereas melittin increases the susceptibility of phospholipids to phospholipases and increases the permeability of the membrane to ions. Application of both 20 mU/ml phospholipase C or 0.5 mg/ml melittin to 11.1 mM glucose elicited a time-dependent enhancement of glucose-induced electrical activity that stabilized after 10 min. Phospholipase C increased both the active phase fraction and the burst frequency, whereas melittin only increased the burst frequency. These results indicate that both compounds, which disrupt the phospholipid environment of the plasma membrane, play a role in modulating the oscillatory pattern of electrical activity in the B cell, although melittin is obviously not influencing the factors controlling the ionic events in the same manner as phospholipase C.