Hexose metabolism in pancreatic islets: the Pasteur effect.

In rat pancreatic islets, hypoxia severely decreased both the oxidation of D-[U-14C]glucose and the release of insulin evoked by D-glucose. The production of [14C]lactate was increased in the hypoxic islets, the relative magnitude of such an increment being greater at low (2.8 mM) than high (8.3 and 16.7 mM) D-glucose concentrations. Hypoxia increased the detritiation of D-[5-3H]glucose at low glucose concentration (2.8 mM), failed to affect 3H2O production at an intermediate glucose level (8.3 mM), and inhibited the utilization of D-[5-3H]glucose at a higher hexose concentration (16.7 mM). In tumoral islet cells (RINm5F line) exposed to 16.7 mM D-glucose, hypoxia decreased D-[U-14C]glucose oxidation to the same extent as in normal islet cells, but increased the production of [14C]lactate and 3H2O to a greater extent than in normal islets. These findings indicate that the Pasteur effect is operative in islet cells. The experimental data also suggest that, under normal conditions of oxygenation, high concentrations of D-glucose lead to both activation of phosphofructokinase and stimulation of mitochondrial oxidative events in normal, but not tumoral, islet cells.