Acetylcholine stimulates glucose metabolism by pancreatic islets

Acetylcholine stimulates insulin secretion in the presence of physiological concentrations of glucose. Stimulation of insulin secretion by acetylcholine is accompanied by an increase in glucose usage by isolated rat islets. Acetylcholine increased glucose usage by 38%, 28%, and 12% at 3.5 mM, 5.5 mM, and 10 mM glucose, respectively, compared to glucose usage by isolated islets incubated with glucose alone. Data showing increased glucose usage in islets treated with acetylcholine converge with data from an earlier report (J. Biol. Chem. 254 3921-3929 [1979]) showing a crossover point for glycolytic metabolites at phosphofructokinase to indicate that activation of glycolysis by acetylcholine results from increased phosphofructokinase activity and coordinate activation of hexokinase in intact islets.