Leptin Constrains Phospholipase C-Protein Kinase C-Induced Insulin Secretion via a Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase-Dependent Pathway

Leptin-deficient Lepob/Lepob mice hypersecrete insulin in response to acetylcholine stimulation of the phospholipase C-protein kinase C (PLC-PKC) pathway, and leptin constrains this hypersecretion. Leptin has been reported to activate phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-K) and subsequently phosphodiesterase (PDE) to impair protein kinase A (PKA)-induced insulin secretion from cultured islets of neonatal rats. We determined if PKA-induced insulin secretion was also hyperresponsive in Islets from Lepob/Lepob mice, and if leptin impaired this pathway in islets from these mice. Additionally, the possible role for PI 3-K and PDE in leptin-induced control of acetylcholine-induced insulin secretion was examined. Stimulation of Insulin secretion with GLP-1, forskolin (an activator of adenylyl cyclase), or IBMX (an inhibitor of PDE) did not cause hypersecretion of insulin from islets of young Lepob/Lepob mice, and leptin did not inhibit GLP-1-induced insulin secretion from islets of these mice. Inhibition of PDE with IBMX also did not block leptin-induced inhibition of acetylcholine-mediated insulin secretion from islets of Lepob/Lepob mice. But, preincubation of islets with wortmannin, an Inhibitor of PI 3-K activity, blocked the ability of leptin to constrain acetylcholine-induced insulin secretion from islets of Lepob/Lepob mice. We conclude that the capacity of the PKA pathway to stimulate insulin secretion is not increased in islets from young Lepob/Lepob mice, and that leptin does not regulate this pathway in islets from mice. Leptin may stimulate PI 3-K to constrain PLC-PKC-induced insulin secretion from Islets of Lepob/Lepob mice.