Abstract
Summary
Glucose-6-phosphatase has been demonstrated in pancreatic B cells of rabbit. guinea pig and dog. and in canine ductular epithelium. Short fixation of fresh frozen cryostat sections in cold neutral 6% calcium formol does not inhibit its activity or alter its distribution in liver or pancreas. Furthermore, specificity of histochemical reaction for glucose-6-phosphatase was demonstrated by differences in staining when other substrates were incubated at same pH for equal time. In view of known relationship of blood sugar concentration to rate of insulin secretion, a hypothesis is advanced relating presence of this enzyme in B cells to control of insulin secretion. It is suggested that net rate of glucose-6-phosphate formation is the controlling factor and that this would be influenced by any increase or decrease of glucose-6-phosphatase activity.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.