Are metabolic oscillations responsible for normal oscillatory insulin secretion?

Normal insulin secretion is oscillatory in vivo and in vitro, with a period of approximately 5-10 min. The mechanism of generating these oscillations is not yet established, but a metabolic basis seems most likely for glucose-stimulated secretion. The rationale is that 1) spontaneous oscillatory operation of glycolysis is a well-established phenomenon; 2) oscillatory behavior of glycolysis involves oscillations in the ATP/ADP ratio, which can cause alternating opening and closing of ATP-sensitive K+ channels, leading to the observed oscillations in membrane potential and Ca2+ influx in pancreatic beta-cells, and may also have downstream effects on exocytosis; 3) spontaneous Ca2+ oscillations are an unlikely basis in this case, since intracellular stores are not of primary importance in the stimulus-secretion coupling, and furthermore, insulin oscillations occur under conditions when intracellular Ca2+ levels are not changing; 4) a neural basis cannot account for insulin oscillations from perifused islets and clonal beta-cells or from transplanted islets or pancreas in vivo; 5) observed oscillations in metabolite levels and fluxes further support a metabolic basis, as does the presence in beta-cells of the oscillatory isoform of phosphofructokinase (PFK-M). The fact that normal oscillatory secretion is impaired in patients with NIDDM and in their near relatives suggests that such derangement may be involved in the development of the disease; furthermore, this probably reflects an early defect in the regulation and operation of the fuel metabolizing/sensing pathways of the pancreatic beta-cell.