In conscious rats, we have previously shown that immunoneutralization of circulating insulin with a rabbit anti-insulin serum abolished the pancreatic exocrine secretion stimulated by a meal or a combination of exogenous secretin and cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8). To investigate the mechanism of endogenous insulin action on the exocrine pancreas, isolated rat pancreata were perfused with intra-arterial infusion of Krebs-Henseleit solution (37 degrees C) at 1.2 ml/min, whereas both pancreatic juice and portal venous effluent were collected separately in 15-min samples. Simultaneous intra-arterial infusion of secretin and CCK-8 in doses of 0.75 and 4.2 pmol/h; respectively, significantly increased volume, bicarbonate, and protein output in 7 rat pancreata (P < 0.01). When a rabbit anti-insulin serum was administered intra-arterially (0.1-ml bolus followed by 0.1 ml for 10 min), pancreatic secretion of volume, bicarbonate, and protein output was profoundly suppressed (n = 7, P < 0.01), whereas a normal rabbit serum failed to influence pancreatic secretion. The decrease in pancreatic secretion by the antiserum coincided with a significant increase in somatostatin in portal venous effluent from 1.4 +/- 0.2 to 4.1 +/- 0.8 pM (n = 6, P < 0.05). The combined administration of a rabbit antisomatostatin serum (0.4 ml) and the anti-insulin serum partially reversed the effect of the anti-insulin serum alone. Thus the pancreatic secretion was significantly greater than that achieved by the anti-insulin serum alone (P < 0.05). These observations strongly suggest that the action of insulin on exocrine pancreas is mediated by its local or paracrine action.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)