Synergistic insulinotropic action of succinate, acetate, and glucose esters in islets from normal and diabetic rats.

Succinic acid esters are currently under investigation as possible insulinotropic tools in the treatment of noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. The present article introduces three novel nutrient esters and aims mainly to explore, in both normal and GK rats, the secretory response to such esters when tested alone or in combination. It documents that in pancreatic islets from normal rats, methyl acetate (10 mM), which fails to augment basal insulin output, potentiates the secretory response to succinate dimethyl ester (also 10 mM). It also reveals that alpha-D-glucose pentaacetate (alpha GPA) (1.7 mM) stimulates insulin release in the absence of any other exogenous nutrient and even more so in the presence of succinate methyl ester. Moreover, the methyl esters of succinic acid (10 mM), when used together with either methyl acetate or alpha GPA, provoked insulin secretion in islets from diabetic GK rats incubated in the absence of D-glucose, although no significant secretory response of such islets could be detected when each of these agents was tested separately. These findings thus draw attention to the insulinotropic potential in type 2 diabetes of selected combinations of nutrient esters, including a D-glucose ester presumably able to enter into islet cells without requiring the intervention of a hexose carrier.