Biochemical and morphologic studies on diabetic rats: effects of sucrose-enriched diet in rats with pancreatic islet transplants.

Isolated pancreatic islets were administered to Lewis rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes. Then the rats were fed either a semisynthetic diet containing 60% (wt/wt) sucrose for 3 weeks or were continued on chow. Transplantation resulted in a decrease in serum glucose, an increase in serum insulin, and a marked decrease in serum triacylglycerol, particularly in the sucrose-fed diabetic rats. In these rats, in demarcated areas of hepatocytes surrounding portal vein termini, lipid was deposited in the cytosol and large lipoprotein particles engorged the Golgi apparatus, Golgi-derived secretory vacuoles, and GERL. This model permits observation of the effects of pancreatic islet hormones on lipogenesis by hepatocytes in situ.