title: Artefactual and true uptake of labelled sucrose by rat pancreatic islet cells.
abstract: Labelled sucrose is currently used as an extracellular marker in pancreatic islets or isolated islet cells. Contamination of [6,6'(n)-3H]sucrose by tritiated hexose results in severe overestimation of the extracellular space. The relative magnitude of this overestimation depends on such factors as the temperature and length of incubation and the presence or absence of metabolized unlabelled hexose. Even with uncontamined [U-14C]sucrose, a restricted amount of the disaccharide is apparently taken up, hydrolyzed and further metabolized in the islet cells. The uptake of sucrose by islet cells may reflect the phylogenic maintenance of a physiological attribute of these primitively intestinal epithelial cells.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D005110:Extracellular Space / Q000378:metabolism; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D006601:Hexoses / Q000378:metabolism; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007328:Insulin / Q000494:pharmacology; D007515:Islets of Langerhans / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000378:metabolism*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D051381:Rats; D013395:Sucrose / Q000378:metabolism*; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D006601:Hexoses; D007328:Insulin; D013395:Sucrose; D005947:Glucose