The role of calcium in glucagon release, interactions between glucose and calcium

The interrelationships between glucose and calcium in glucagon release were investigated using the dynamic system of the in vitro perfused rat pancreas. When calcium deprivation was induced in the presence of fixed concentrations of glucose prevailing throughout the experiments (3.3, 5.5, 8.3 and 16.6 mM), an enhancement of glucagon release invariably occurred, the shape and amplitude of such response differing in relation to the environmental glucose concentration. Such enhancement of glucagon release was readily reversible upon restoration of normal calcium levels. By contrast, during the period of calcium deprivation itself, glucagon release was little influenced by either raised (from 3.3 to 16.6 mM) or decreased (from 16.6 to 3.3 mM) glucose concentrations. These results clearly indicate that calcium plays, at least, a dual role - both inhibitory and permissive - in glucagon secretion, but the intimate mechanisms by which calcium exerts such a dual action are at present unknown.