Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UNIPROT:P01275 (glucagon)
 26,492 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The present study evaluates the development and function of human fetal B-cells in vitro with a view to using such cells in future attempts for transplantation of human fetal pancreas to diabetic patients. A method previously described in our laboratory for preparing islets in vitro from the fetal rat pancreas has been applied and modified for use with human fetal pancreas. Pancreatic glands of different gestational ages were obtained from 37 consecutive prostaglandin-induced abortions. After a mild collagenase treatment, the partially disintegrated tissue was maintained in culture for 7 days in tissue culture medium RPMI 1640 plus 20% fetal calf serum to permit cell attachment and out-growth of endocrine cells. In 17 of the 37 consecutively cultured fetal pancreatic glands, islet-like cell clusters were formed. The 20 remaining glands were lost because of either bacterial contamination or lack of viability already before dissection had occurred. Sections of the newly formed cell clusters revealed well-preserved pancreatic cells showing frequent mitotic figures. The tissue exhibited a high rate of (pro)insulin biosynthesis and a modest insulin response to secretory stimuli, suggesting that the mechanism of glucose regulation by the fetal B-cells is not yet fully developed. Electron micrographs showed a large number of granule-containing cells, some of which were identified as B-cells. In nine cases, harvested cell clusters were implanted beneath the kidney capsule of nude mice. When these animals were killed after 2 mo, seven mice showed a considerable growth of the grafts with numerous islet-like structures containing insulin- and glucagon-positive cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
 ...
PMID:Tissue culture of human fetal pancreas. Development and function of B-cells in vitro and transplantation of explants to nude mice. 393 Mar 24

Parenchymal cells from adult rat liver have been established in primary monolayer culture. Donor animals are subjected to a partial hepatectomy and, 4 days later, cells are prepared by collagenase perfusion of the regenerated liver. The hepatic parenchymal cells, separated from nonparenchymal material and suspended in serum-free medium, are placed in plastic tissue culture dishes, where they form a monolayer within 24 h. The monolayer cells exhibit minimal mitotic activity and demonstrate several major metabolic functions characteristic of liver in vivo; these include albumin synthesis and secretion, gluconeogenesis from 3-carbon precursors, responsiveness to insulin and glucagon, glycogen synthesis, and activity of two microsomal enzymes. These functions are present in the monolayer cells for several days at activities similar to those observed in the liver in vivo. The findings indicate that hepatic parenchymal cells in this monolayer system are viable and behave in many respects like normal adult rat liver.
 ...
PMID:Parenchymal cells from adult rat liver in nonproliferating monolayer culture. I. Functional studies. 435 60

Pancreases were obtained from five human fetuses 12 to 16 weeks old. The islets of Langerhans were isolated with collagenase, and then incubated with buffer, glucose, tolbutamide, or glucagon added to the medium. The insulin released into the medium was measured by immunoassay. Glucagon produced the only significant increase above base line; glucose and tolbutamide failed to enhance secretion of insulin. The data suggest that isolated human fetal islets of this gestational age develop responsiveness to glucagon earlier than to glucose or tolbutamide.
 ...
PMID:Insulin release from isolated human fetal pancreatic islets. 490 65

Rat parenchymal hepatocytes isolated with collagenase were cultured as monolayers in Williams medium E supplemented with calf serum. Freshly isolated cells showed very low activities of various liver functions, and they had to be cultured for 6-24 h to allow recovery of these functions. Insulin and dexamethasone greatly increased cell viability in primary. After culture for 24 h, these cells showed various liver functions as seen in vivo and responded well to various added hormones and amino acids. The concentrations of amino acids in the medium regulated synthesis of serum proteins and insulin stimulated lipogenesis, which in turn regulated synthesis of lipoproteins. Insulin also stimulated glycogen synthesis and the stimulation was parallel with the number of insulin receptors. Glucagon stimulated glycogenolysis and its stimulation involved the function of the cytoskeleton. Glucagon and dexamethasone induced various enzymes of amino acid catabolism, such as tryptophan oxygenase, tyrosine aminotransferase and serine dehydratase. These inductions were inhibited by insulin or catecholamine. The effect of catecholamine was due to its alpha-adrenergic action. The beta-action of isoproterenol was low in freshly isolated cells, but increased during culture of the cells. Acquirement of hormonal responses during neonatal development can be studied in this culture system. Mature hepatocytes in culture are usually quiescent, but when insulin and epidermal growth factor were added, DNA synthesis by the cells increased markedly and they showed density-dependent growth. In this culture system, serum could be omitted for 2 days when the dishes were coated with fibronectin without appreciable change of functions, but serum was needed for longer culture of the cells. A factor that increased cell survival was found in serum and in pituitary gland. These results show that hepatocytes in primary culture are a simple and useful system for studies of liver functions in vitro and related works were also reviewed.
 ...
PMID:Use of hepatocytes in primary culture for biochemical studies on liver functions. 612 41

Pancreatic islets of neonatal were dissociated by collagenase and cultured for 3 days in the presence of Cytodex beads to allow attachment of the cells to these microcarriers. The bead-attached cells were packed in columns and superfused with a low bicarbonate medium using the same method that we had originally developed for dissociated anterior pituitary cells of the rat. The secretion of insulin, somatostatin, and glucagon by the cells was monitored by radioimmunoassays. The cells in the superfusion system responded as expected from experiments with islet and monolayer cultures of rat pancreas in vitro and in vivo. Increasing glucose concentrations in the superfusion medium increased the release of insulin and somatostatin (SS), whereas glucagon secretory rates remained constant or decreased. A dose-response curve was established between insulin release and D-glucose in which the ED50 of D-glucose for insulin was found between 1.5 and 2 mg/ml. The phosphodiesterase inhibitor, 3-isobutyl-methylxanthine (IBMX), significantly potentiated the insulin response to glucose. Various secretagogues such as IBMX, 8-bromo cyclic AMP, and L-arginine increased insulin, somatostatin, and glucagon secretory rates in an expected manner. The superfusion method offers the possibility to investigate the interactions of dissociated A-, B-, and D-cells and the dynamics of hormone release in short- and long-term in vitro experiments. The method is simple and avoids the problems of monolayer procedures, such as clustering of the cells and poor adherence of dissociated pancreatic islet cells to dishes.
 ...
PMID:Superfusion of dissociated pancreatic islet cells attached to Cytodex beads. 613 17

Oral administration to mice with soybean trypsin inhibitor (SBTI) (27-30 mg/mouse/day) or aprotinin (5500-6000 KIU/mouse/day) for six weeks increased the total pancreatic insulin (IRI). The pancreatic IRI was also increased after sc injections of synthetic caerulein (0.05 microgram/mouse/day divided into 3 daily doses), being 82% above the control levels when expressed per g pancreas. Aprotinin (6000 KIU/mouse/day divided into 3 daily doses) injected sc had no effect on the insulin content. The total glucagon did not change significantly in any of the groups, but the molar ratio of insulin to glucagon was increased in the caerulein- and SBTI-treated mice. Caerulein-treatment led to an increased disappearance rate of glucose with k-values being 7.1 +/- 0.3 compared to 6.0 +/- 0.1 (mean +/- SEM) in the controls (P less than 0.02). In islets isolated by collagenase-digestion of the pancreas and subjected to an overnight incubation, the content of insulin and glucagon was increased in islets from caerulein-treated animals. This corresponded to the results observed in the whole pancreas. The present study suggests that oral administration of proteolytic enzyme inhibitors or treatment with caerulein has a trophic effect on the endocrine pancreas. A difference in specificity seems to exist as SBTI affected both the pancreatic weight and IRI, and aprotinin orally did not influence the pancreatic weight, but increased the total content of IRI. Caerulein led to an increase in IRI, but did not affect the weight of pancreas.
 ...
PMID:Effects of caerulein and trypsin inhibitors on the endocrine mouse pancreas. 616 52

Free cells isolated from adult rat heart by the collagenase method were maintained in culture up to 21 h with or without an islet-activating protein (IAP) that had been purified from the culture medium of Bordetella pertussis. Short-term stimulation of beta-adrenergic or glucagon receptors in these cultured cells caused more accumulation of cAMP in cells precultured with IAP (IAP-treated) than in nontreated cells, although there was no significant difference in the baseline (non-stimulated) content of cAMP between these cells. Stimulation of muscarinic cholinergic or adenosine R-site receptors caused a marked inhibition of cAMP accumulation in nontreated cells in either the presence or absence of a beta-agonist (or glucagon); no such inhibition was essentially observed in IAP-treated cells. These actions of IAP developed gradually and were dose-dependent with the half-maximal concentration of approximately 80 ng/ml in culture. It is concluded that IAP may exert its unique influence on the heart cell membrane causing profound modification of the coupling mechanism involved in the receptor-mediated activation or inhibition of adenylate cyclase. This action of IAP differs clearly from that of cholera toxin which activates adenylate cyclase rather independently of the receptor functions in heart cells.
 ...
PMID:Modification by islet-activating protein of receptor-mediated regulation of cyclic AMP accumulation in isolated rat heart cells. 616 42

Various conditions for tissue culture of collagenase-isolated mouse pancreatic islets were studied for their effects on the glucagon production of the cultured specimens. Culture media containing heat-treated bovine calf serum degraded [125I]glucagon to a much less extent than those supplemented with untreated serum. Addition of aprotinin to the heat-treated serum gave a further reduction of the [125I]glucagon degradation in the culture medium. A similar supplementation of Medium 199, used for culture of isolated islets, resulted in the most extensive glucagon accumulation in the culture medium. Islets cultured free-floating or attached to the bottom of the culture dishes contained similar amounts of glucagon. However, the free-floating islets released less glucagon when tested in short-term experiments performed at the end of the 1 wk culture period. A comparison between different culture media showed that islets cultured in RPMI-1640 had the highest glucagon content and released most glucagon to the culture medium. Moreover, these islets responded most actively to an acute arginine challenge at the end of the culture period. The present data suggest that the optimal conditions for culture of isolated islets aimed at studies of glucagon production may be obtained by using a culture medium consisting of RPMI-1640 supplemented with both a proteinase inhibitor and heat-inactivated serum.
 ...
PMID:Glucagon production by cultured pancreatic islets: effects of different culture conditions and media. 616 39

Adult human pancreatic tissue was minced and digested with collagenase. Resulting cell clusters, including both exocrine and endocrine components, were suspended in the medium and inoculated into 35 mm Petri dishes. Viable cell clusters became spherical 4 or 5 hr after inoculation and attached to the bottom of the dish within 24 hr. They spread out to form a pavementlike epithelial cell sheet by the seventh day of culture. Insulin and glucagon release were determined on the culture day 3. Insulin release stimulated by 500 mg/dl glucose, 10 mM theophylline, and 200 micrograms/ml tolbutamide was increased 1.5- to 3.7-fold in comparison with that stimulated by 100 mg/dl glucose. A 20 mM arginine concentration did not affect insulin release. Glucagon release, stimulated by 10 mM theophylline and 20 mM arginine, showed 1.7- to 2.7-fold increase and was suppressed significantly by 500 mg/dl glucose. Tolbutamide did not affect glucagon release significantly. Ultrastructural studies demonstrated that islet cells were preserved excellently. Chopped pancreatic tissue could be stored at 4 degrees C for at least 12 hr, with retention of normal following subsequent in vitro culture of islet cells.
 ...
PMID:Adult human pancreatic endocrine cells in culture. Insulin and glucagon release and influence of cold storage. 616 97

1. Hepatocytes were isolated by collagenase perfusion of livers from fed rats and established in stationary monolayer culture. 2. Degradation of intracellular protein was measured in these monolayers after labelling for 16h with [3H]leucine followed by a 3h chase period in medium containing 2mM-leucine. 3. Proteolysis in this system was stimulated by physiological concentrations of glucagon and also by added dibutyryl cyclic AMP. The effects of these two agents were not additive, which is consistent with the view that they act by the same mechanism. 4. A close correlation was found between intracellular cyclic AMP concentrations generated by glucagon and the degree of stimulation of proteolysis elicited by the hormone. 5. Insulin reduced glucagon-stimulated proteolysis, but not glucagon-elevated intracellular cyclic AMP concentrations. 6. The continual presence of either insulin or glucagon was necessary for the full expression of their effects on proteolysis. 7. In the presence of cycloheximide, proteolysis was normally responsive to glucagon but not to insulin. In contrast, proteolysis was not responsive to either hormone in the presence of ammonia, an agent that blocks the final lysosomal step of protein breakdown. 8. We propose that in hepatocyte monolayers glucagon may act via cyclic AMP to increase cellular autophagy and thus increase proteolysis, whereas insulin inhibits these processes independently of cyclic AMP.
 ...
PMID:Protein degradation in hepatocyte monolayers. Effects of glucagon, adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate and insulin. 624 43


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>