Hexose metabolism in pancreatic islets: glycogen synthase and glycogen phosphorylase activities

The activity of glycogen synthase and glycogen phosphorylase was measured in rat pancreatic islet homogenates. For this purpose, the sensitivity of current radioisotopic procedures for the assay of these enzymes in liver extracts was increased by about two orders of magnitude. Even so, the measurement of glycogen synthase and phosphorylase in islet homogenates was hampered by a potent amylase-like activity, resulting in the hydrolysis of preformed or newly formed 14C-labeled glycogen. Acarbose suppressed the latter phenomenon which was found attributable to both minute contamination of isolated islets by acinar cells and genuine alpha-amylase activity in purified islet beta-cells. As measured by the more sensitive method in the presence of acarbose, the a/(a+b) ratio for glycogen synthase activity in islet homogenates was increased in islets preincubated in the presence as distinct from absence of D-glucose and decreased after preincubation with forskolin. These changes represented a mirror image of those evoked by D-glucose and forskolin in the a/(a+b) ratio for glycogen phosphorylase activity. It is concluded that glycogen synthesis and breakdown are regulated in the endocrine pancreas in a manner qualitatively comparable to that prevailing in hepatocytes, the possible participation of an amylase-like activity to glycogen metabolism in intact islet beta-cells requiring further investigation.