Calmodulin and calbindin in pancreatic islet cells

Abstract

The process of insulin release evoked by D-glucose and other nutrient secretagogues is triggered by an increase in cytosolic Ca2+ activity. However, some other insulinotropic agents may stimulate insulin release at a close-to-basal concentration of cytosolic ionized calcium. The control of cytosolic Ca2+ concentration depends not solely on the rate of Ca2+ entry into the cell through voltage-sensitive channels and Ca2+ exit via Na(+)-Ca2+ countertransport or active Ca2+ pumping, but also on the subcellular distribution of Ca2+, as dependent, for instance, on both Ca2(+)-ATPase activity and inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate-sensitive release in microsomes and calcium accumulation in mitochondria. Calmodulin and calbindin were both identified in pancreatic islet cells. Activation of adenylate cyclase by calcium-calmodulin may account for the increased production of cyclic AMP in islets stimulated by nutrient secretagogues. Calbindin is present in both normal and tumoral islet cells, and might participate to the alteration of islet function encountered in vitamin D-deprived or repleted rats. However, no target enzyme for calbindin was yet identified in islet cells. Independently of the role of calcium-binding regulatory proteins, the mitochondrial accumulation of calcium may account in part at least, for the preferential stimulation of mitochondrial oxidative events in the process of nutrient-stimulated insulin release.