Branched-chain amino acid-enriched diet: effects on insulin secretion and cellular immune aggression.

Several reports have demonstrated that high-protein diets may have beneficial effects on experimental models of diabetes and have raised the possibility that branched-chain amino acids could play a role in these protective effects. We investigated the effect of a normoproteic, branched-chain amino acid-enriched diet (experimental diet) on insulin secretion from C57BL/6N mice transferred with splenocytes from diabetic syngeneic donors. Mice previously fed with the experimental or control diet received three intraperitoneal injections, every other day, of 5 x 107 viable mononuclear splenocytes obtained from control or diabetic donors. Results showed that mice fed with the experimental diet and transferred with "diabetic" splenocytes presented: i) normoglycemia, and (ii) significantly higher levels in both phases of glucose-induced insulin secretion and normal values of arginine-glucose-induced insulin secretion. To evaluate the in vitro cellular immune aggression, dispersed mouse islet cells were co-cultured with splenocytes from syngeneic diabetic mice. First, dispersed islet cells from mice on the experimental or control diet were co-cultured with splenocytes from control or diabetic mice on a commercial diet. In the presence of "diabetic splenocytes, dispersed islet cells from mice on the experimental diet presented a significantly lower in vitro cellular immune aggression. On the other hand, "diabetic" splenocytes from mice fed with the experimental diet produced a significantly reduced cellular immune aggression on dispersed islet cells. Our results showed that feeding branched-chain amino acids increased the capacity of beta cells to withstand a functional assault and diminished the extent of in vitro cellular immune aggression.

A temporal study of somatostatin secretion and its inhibitory effect in genetically diabetic mice (C57BL/KsJ-db/db).

Somatostatin (SRIF) acts as a physiological regulator of insulin and glucagon secretion. This study explored whether alterations in SRIF secretion and activity in perifused pancreas from spontaneously diabetic mice (C57BL/KsJ-db/db) could be correlated with hypersecretion of insulin by the beta-cells. SRIF release upon stimulation with 27.5 mM glucose was biphasic in controls, whereas a first phase peak was absent in 30-to 90-day-old diabetic mice (db/db). Twelve- to 28-day-old db/db mice showed two distinct patterns compared to controls: biphasic hypersecretion in the 12- to 20-day-old group compared to normal secretion in the 22- to 28-day-old group. Basal SRIF secretion showed a tendency to be elevated above controls in some of the db/db age groups, but the difference was not statistically significant. Insulin release from control pancreases was biphasic, whereas in db/db mice, basal hypersecretion, absence of the first peak, and second phase hypersecretion were observed. beta-Cell sensitivity to the inhibitory effect of SRIF was diminished in db/db mice aged 12-90 days. Diazoxide, on the contrary, inhibited insulin secretion from the pancreas of diabetic and normal mice to the same extent. The results suggest that altered secretion of and response to SRIF in C57BL/KsJ-db/db mice might provide an explanation for the anomalies in insulin secretion in the first stages of this type of diabetic syndrome.