Somatostatin: lack of effect of cyclic AMP release and amino acid transport in isolated rat hepatocytes.

The aim of the present study was to determine whether or not somatostatin can directly affect amino acid transport and cyclic AMP (cAMP) release in isolated rat hepatocytes. Somatostatin at 1.5 microgram/ml (1mumol/l) had no effect on basal uptake of alpha-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB). Similarly, the peptide was without effect on basal cAMP release. Somatostatin exerted a slight but statistically not significant inhibitory effect on glucagon-stimulated AIB uptake and cAMP release. These observations do not support the possibility that somatostatin might directly interfere with hepatic glucose metabolism by altering the entry of amino acids into the liver and--or--by affecting the level of endogenous cAMP.