Abstract
Pancreatic B-cell function in liver cirrhosis was examined in rats. Experimental liver cirrhosis was induced by subcutaneous injection of 50% carbon tetrachloride of a dose of 2 ml/kg body weight twice a week for 16 weeks. Control rats received a similar dose of olive oil during the same period. The peripheral insulin level was higher in cirrhotic rats than in control rats. However, the insulin content of the cirrhotic rat pancreas was significantly lower than that in the control rat pancreas. Insulin secretion in response to both 16.7 mM glucose-and 100 pM cholecystokinin octapeptidestimulation from isolated perfused pancreata prepared from cirrhotic rats was only 60% of that from control rats. In contrast, there was no significant difference in arginine-stimulated insulin release between these two groups.
These findings suggest that the peripheral insulin level was higher, whereas insulin release from the isolated perfused pancreas was lower in liver cirrhotic rats than in control rats. Moreover, there was a selective impairment of the stimulus-secretion mechanism of B cells in cirrhotic rats.
