Modulation of rat pancreatic islet cell replication and insulin release by glibenclamide.

Glibenclamide significantly stimulated the incorporation of [3H]thymidine into DNA of fetal rat pancreatic islets at a physiological (5.5 mM) but not at a high (22 mM) glucose concentration. There was no significant stimulation of insulin release under these conditions. In contrast, the drug-stimulated insulin release from adult islets cultured at 5.5 mM glucose but had no effect on their DNA synthesis. The observations suggest that insulin secretion and DNA synthesis may be dissociated in rat pancreatic islets.