β-Cell Mitochondria and Insulin Secretion

Abstract

The β-cell mitochondria are known to generate metabolic coupling factors, or messengers, that mediate plasma membrane depolarization and the increase in cytosolic Ca²⁺, the triggering event in glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Accordingly, ATP closes nucleotide-sensitive K⁺ channels necessary for the opening of voltage-gated Ca²⁺ channels. ATP also exerts a permissive action on insulin exocytosis. In contrast, GTP directly stimulates the exocytotic process. cAMP is considered to have a dual function: on the one hand, it renders the β-cell more responsive to glucose; on the other, it mediates the effect of glucagon and other hormones that potentiate insulin secretion. Mitochondrial shuttles contribute to the formation of pyridine nucleotides, which may also participate in insulin exocytosis. Among the metabolic factors generated by glucose, citrate-derived malonyl-CoA has been endorsed, but recent results have questioned its role. We have proposed that glutamate, which is also formed by mitochondrial metabolism, stimulates insulin exocytosis in conditions of permissive, clamped cytosolic Ca²⁺ concentrations. The evidence for the implication of these and other putative messengers in metabolism-secretion coupling is discussed in this review.