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The Effect of Calcium and Magnesium on Glucagon Secretion^*

Laboratory of Experimental Medicine, Free University of Brussels Brussels, Belgium

Abstract

The effect of calcium and magnesium ions on glucagon and insulin secretion was studied in vitro, using pieces of pancreas from duct-ligaturated rats. Omission of calcium from the incubation media stimulated glucagon release. Addition of barium to the calcium-depleted media did not prevent the stimulation of glucagon release. Omission of magnesium also tended to increase the rate of glucagon secretion. Much higher rates of glucagon release were observed in the concomitant absence of calcium and magnesium, or in calcium-depleted media supplemented with a chelating agent (EGTA). On the other hand, excess of calcium (8 mEq/1) was without effect, and excess magnesium (20 mEq/1) inhibited basal or arginine-induced glucagon release. In these various experimental conditions, except those in which a marked stimulation of glucagon occurred (absence of both cations, presence of EGTA), the rate of insulin secretion followed the patterns documented by previous investigators. It is concluded that calcium and magnesium, in contrast to their effect on the β cell, act synergistically upon the secretory process of the ₂ cell in such a way that glucagon release is stimulated at low levels of both cations. (Endocrinology 93: 1360, 1973)

Footnotes

^* Part of this work has been presented at the 8th annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, Madrid, September 1972 (1).

Received March 12, 1973.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				V Leclercq-Meyer, O Rebelledo, J Marchand, and W Malaisse Glucagon release: paradoxical stimulation by glucose during calcium deprivation Science, September 12, 1975; 189(4206): 897 - 899. [Abstract] [PDF]