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Thioredoxin and thioredoxin reductase (NADPH-oxidized thioredoxin oxidoreductase, E.C. 1.6.4.5) have been proposed to be involved in several thiol-dependent reduction-oxidation reactions in cells. Both proteins have been immunohistochemically demonstrated in the periphery of the cytoplasm and in cytoplasmic granules of acinar and islet cells in mouse pancreas. In animals fed ad libitum, the staining for thioredoxin was more intense in the exocrine acinar cells than in the islet cells, whereas that for thioredoxin reductase was more intense in the endocrine than in the exocrine pancreas. In the islets of fed mice all endocrine cell types showed about the same staining intensity for thioredoxin, while thioredoxin reductase was greatly enriched in the somatostatin-containing D cells. Starvation overnight caused an increased staining for both proteins in the acinar cells as well as in the islets. Under conditions of starvation, thioredoxin reductase, in contrast to thioredoxin, appeared to increase preferentially in the islet B cells, as compared with the D cells. Cysteamine treatment reduced the staining for somatostatin and for thioredoxin reductase in the D cells without any obvious effect on the other pancreatic cells. The results are compatible with a role for thioredoxin and thioredoxin reductase in secretion.

The deformability of erythrocytes from non-inbred ob/ob mice and lean controls was analyzed by filtration through Nuclepore polycarbonate under constant pressure. At the age of 1-2 months there was no difference in erythrocyte filtrability between the two types of mice, whereas from 3 months the ob/ob mouse erythrocytes exhibited a markedly decreased deformability. The filtrability of erythrocytes was sensitive to osmotic pressure (NaCl or glucose). However, the difference between normal and ob/ob mouse erythrocytes was not due to acute osmotic effects of the hyperglycaemia in the ob/ob mice. When filtration was performed in the same glucose concentration as that recorded in the blood of the erythrocyte-donor animal, the difference in filtrability between adult normal and ob/ob mice remained large and significant (p less than 0.01). Moreover, the most pronounced hyperglycaemia occurred in young ob/ob mice with normal erythrocyte filtrability. It is suggested that non-inbred ob/ob mice are a useful model for studying the damaging influence of diabetes on erythrocyte deformability.

The accumulation of glibenclamide was studied in the pancreatic islets of non-inbred ob/ob-mice. Microdissected islets were incubated in media of different ionic composition and the accumulation measured as the uptake of drug not accounted for by equilibration in the urea space. In 12 mM N-hydroxyethylpiperazine-N'-2-ethane sulphonic acid (HEPES) buffer the accumulation was only half of that in Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate buffer. Addition of 50 mM NaCl, Na2SO4, KCl, or LiCl to the HEPES buffer restored the accumulation to the level seen in Krebs-Ringer buffer. Studies with different concentrations of NaCl and Na2SO4 showed that the glibenclamide accumulation was sensitive to Na+ with little or no effect being attributable to the anions. CaCl2 or MgCl2 had much stronger effects than NaCl. It is concluded that cations participate in the binding of glibenclamide to beta-cells. The mechanism could be an increased ionic attraction between cell surfaces and hydrophilic regions of the drug, or a shielding of fixed surface anions allowing stronger hydrophobic interactions between drug and beta-cells.