Mechanisms of octanoic acid potentiation of insulin secretion in isolated islets.

A potentiating effect of medium-chain triglycerides on glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) has been observed since the 1960s. Subsequent observations identified octanoic acid (OA), the main component of medium-chain triglyceride, as the potentiator of GSIS, but the mechanism was unclear. We used wild-type (WT), short-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase knockout (Hadh^-/-), and sulfonylurea receptor 1 knockout (Sur1^-/-) mouse islets to define the mechanism of OA potentiation of insulin secretion. Application of OA alone induced a 2- to 3- fold increase of insulin secretion with an apparent threshold of 3 mM in WT mouse islets, suggesting that OA itself is a weak insulin secretagogue. However, OA at 1 mM strongly potentiated fuel-stimulated insulin secretion, especially GSIS. The potentiating effect on fuel-stimulated insulin secretion by OA did not require fatty acid β-oxidation because OA also potentiated amino acid-stimulated insulin secretion in islets isolated from Hadh^-/- mice, which cannot fully oxidize OA. Measurements using Sur1^-/- islets indicated that the potentiating effect of OA on fuel-stimulated insulin secretion is Ca²⁺ dependent and is often accompanied by β-cell membrane potential depolarization, and may also involve the Ca²⁺/calmodulin complex. Experiments using DCPIB, an ethacrynic acid derivative, to inhibit volume-sensitive anion channels (VSACs) in Sur1^-/- islets demonstrated that the potentiation effects of OA on insulin secretion are in part medicated by activation of VSAC. In addition, inhibition of IP3 receptor also abolishes the OA-induced intracellular Ca²⁺ increase in Sur1^-/- islets.