Enterostatin--its ability to inhibit insulin secretion and to decrease high-fat food intake.

Enterostatin is a peptide which has been found to decrease food intake with a specificity for the fat contained in the food. In this work we have investigated the effect of enterostatin (Val-Pro-Asp-Pro-Arg) and its proteolytic fragments, des-arg-enterostatin (Val-Pro-Asp-Pro) and the tripeptide Asp-Pro-Arg, on insulin secretion. It was found that enterostatin and desarg-enterostatin inhibited insulin secretion from isolated rat islets by 55.3% (P < 0.05) and 53.6% (P < 0.05) at 1.6 x 10(-4) M concentration, while the tripeptide Asp-Pro-Arg at 1.6 x 10(-4) M concentration had no significant effect and increased insulin secretion by 33.0%. Enterostatin at 200 ng after intraventricular administration was found to inhibit the intake of a high-fat diet by 45.0%, while des-arg-enterostatin (200 ng) had no effect, in agreement with previous findings. The tripeptide Asp-Pro-Arg (200 ng) had no effect on the intake of a high-fat diet compared to saline injection. The ability of enterostatin to inhibit high-fat food intake and decrease insulin secretion may be important for the prevention of obesity and type II diabetes, conditions linked through hyperinsulinemia.