Initiation of insulin secretion in glucose-free medium by activin A

Activin A is a multifunctional protein known to stimulate insulin secretion (Yasuda H et al., (1993) Endocrinology 133, 624-630). The present study was conducted to determine whether activin A augments insulin secretion in the absence of ambient glucose. In the presence of 2.7 mM glucose, and 1.25 mM calcium, activin A induced a biphasic secretory response of insulin. In the absence of glucose in perifusate, activin A induced a small but significant release of insulin. The effect of activin A was monophasic in the absence of glucose. In contrast, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) had no effect on insulin secretion under the same conditions. However, GLP-1 could enhance insulin secretion induced by activin A in glucose-free medium. Activin A induced a transient increase in cytoplasmic-free calcium concentration, [Ca2+]c, in a fura-2-loaded islet superfused with glucose-free buffer. Again, GLP-1 was without effect on [Ca2+]c by itself in glucose-free buffer. In the presence of activin A, however, GLP-1 could induce an elevation of [Ca2+]c. Finally, GLP-1, but not activin A, increased cAMP content in islets incubated in glucose-free medium. These results indicate that activin A, but not GLP-1, induces insulin secretion in glucose-free medium. Activin A is able to reproduce partly the effect of glucose to support the action of GLP-1 in glucose-free medium.