Ji Hyun Kim, Ji Won Kim, Sung Yoon Jeon, Heon Seok Park, Dong Sik Ham, Young Hye You, Seung Hwan Lee, Jae Hyoung Cho, Mi Ja Kang, Kang Woo Lee, Hyuk Sang Kwon, Kun Ho Yoon, Bong Yun Cha, Kwang Woo Lee, Sung Koo Kang, Ho Young Son
Korean Diabetes J. 2008;32(2):102-111. Published online April 1, 2008
BACKGROUND Insulin receptor substrate 2 (IRS-2) is a key regulator of beta cell proliferation and apoptosis. This study was aimed to investigate effect of the glucolipotoxicity on apoptosis in INS-1 cell, and the effect of Exendin-4, a GLP-1 receptor agonist, on IRS-2 expression in the glucolipotoxicity induced INS-1 cell. The goal was to discover the new action mechanism and function of Exendin-4 in beta cell apoptosis. METHOD: INS-1 cells were cultured in glucolipotoxic condition for 2, 4 or 6 days and were categorized as G groups. Another group in which 50 nM Exendin-4 was added to INS-1 cells, cultured in glucolipotoxic condition, were named as Ex-4 groups. We investigated the expression of IRS-2 by RT-PCR, phosphorylated IRS-2 and phosphorylated Akt protein levels by western blot. We measured the apoptosis ratio of INS-1 cell in glucolipotoxic condition by TUNEL staining in both groups. RESULT: IRS-2 expression of INS-1 cells decreased with correlation to the time of exposure to glucolipotoxic condition. pIRS-2 and pAkt protein levels decreased in the similar pattern in glucolipotoxicity group. However, this effect of glucolipotoxicity on INS-1 cell was inhibited by the Exendin-4 treatment. In the Ex-4 groups, IRS-2 expression, pIRS-2 and pAkt protein levels remained at the similar level to low glucose condition state. Also, apoptosis induced by glucolipotoxicity was suppressed by Exendin-4 treatment significantly. CONCLUSION: We showed that the long-term treatment of Exendin-4 inhibited the apoptosis of beta cells significantly in glucolipotoxic condition and that this effect of Exendin-4 was related with IRS-2 and Akt among the beta cell's intracellular signal transduction pathway.