Nitric oxide donor SIN-1 inhibits insulin release

Preceding the onset of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, pancreatic islets are infiltrated by macrophages secreting interleukin-1 beta, which exerts cytotoxic and inhibitory actions on islet beta-cell insulin secretion through induction of nitric oxide (NO) synthesis. The influence of the NO donor 3-morpholinosydnonimine (SIN-1) on insulin secretion from isolated pancreatic islets in response to various secretagogues was investigated. Stimulation of insulin release evoked by glucose, phospholipase C activation with carbachol, and protein kinase C activation with phorbol ester were obtained by SIN-1, whereas the response to adenylyl cyclase activation or K(+)-induced depolarization was not affected. It is concluded that enzymes involved in glucose catabolism, phospholipase C or protein kinase C, may be targeted by NO. Reversal of SIN-1 inhibition of glucose-stimulated insulin release by dithiothreitol suggests that NO may inhibit insulin secretion partly by S-nitrosylation of thiol residues in key proteins in the stimulus-secretion coupling. These adverse effects of NO on the beta-cell stimulus-secretion coupling may be of importance for the development of the impaired insulin secretion characterizing diabetes mellitus.