Previous studies indicated that in pancreatic islets the amount of glucose-derived pyruvate
that enters mitochondrial metabolism via carboxylation is approximately equal to that
entering via decarboxylation and that both carboxylation and decarboxylation are correlated
with capacitation of glucose metabolism and insulin release. The relatively high rate of
carboxylation is consistent with the current study's finding that pyruvate carboxylase is as
abundant in pancreatic islets as it is in liver and kidney. Since islets do not contain …