Somatostatin and insulin secretion in man. II. The effect of theophylline.

This study was aimed at evaluating the effect of theophylline, a drug that increases the intracellular concentrations of cAMP by inhibiting phosphodiesterase activity, on somatostatin (SRIF)-mediated inhibition of insulin secretion in man. Acute insulin response (AIR) to i.v. glucose (mean change 3-10 min) was almost totally suppressed by SRIF (500 micrograms/h) and glucose utilization was reduced (p less than 0.0001). These SRIF-induced decreases failed to be eliminated by a concurrent infusion of theophylline (100 mg as a loading dose followed by a constant infusion of 5 mg/min). Theophylline alone resulted in a significant increase in both AIR (p less than 0.01) and glucose removal rates (p less than 0.05). Thus, our data disprove the involvement of the phosphodiesterase enzymes in the inhibitory action of SRIF on glucose-induced insulin secretion in man.