pH-independent and -dependent cleavage of proinsulin in the same secretory vesicle

By quantitative immunoelectron microscopy and HPLC, we have studied the effect of disrupting pH gradients, by ammonium chloride, on proinsulin conversion in the insulin-producing B-cells of the islets of langerhans. Proinsulin content and pH in single secretory vesicles were measured on consecutive serial sections immunostained alternately with anti-proinsulin or anti-dinitrophenol (to reveal the pH-sensitive probe DAMP) antibodies. Radioactivity labeled proinsulin, proinsulin cleavage intermediates, and insulin were quantitated by HPLC analysis of extracts of islets treated in the same conditions. Cleavage at the C-peptide/A-chain junction is significantly less sensitive to pH gradient disruption than that of the B-chain/C-peptide junction, but the range of pH and proinsulin content in individual vesicles indicate that both cleavages occur in the same vesicle released from the TGN.