HPLC analysis of nucleotide profiles in glucose-stimulated perifused rat islets.

Nucleotide concentrations were measured in isolated pancreatic islets from rats using HPLC. This method was used to study the role of nucleotides in islets, which were perifused for several hours with different substrates and exhibited signs of exhaustion. Using islet tissue extracts, it was possible to determine 11 nucleotides. It was hoped that alterations in islet nucleotide concentrations would provide clues for the biochemical basis for the exhaustion phenomenon; however, changes in nucleotide concentrations that were observed in exhausted islet tissue did not correlate with corresponding changes in insulin release. Therefore, they are unlikely to be directly related to islet exhaustion.