Résumé : When cultured mouse pancreatic islets were exposed for 30 min to streptozotocin (STZ; 1.8 mM) and then maintained for 7 days in tissue culture, they displayed a decreased secretory response to D-glucose and an impairment of both FAD-linked glycerophosphate dehydrogenase and NAD-dependent 2-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase specific activities, with little change in either NAD-linked glycerophosphate dehydrogenase or glutamate dehydrogenase activity. The enzymatic defect was not reproduced by prolonged exposure of either rat islets to interleukin-1 (10 U/ml) or mouse islets to a high concentration of D-glucose (28 mM). In the former, but not latter, situation, the secretory response to D-glucose was again impaired. These findings reveal that STZ, but not all beta-cytotoxic agents, lowers the activity of selected islet mitochondrial dehydrogenases. Such enzymatic defects, especially the suppression of FAD-linked glycerophosphate dehydrogenase, may explain the preferential alteration of the B-cell metabolic and secretory responses to D-glucose, as previously observed in islets of adult rats injected with STZ during the neonatal period.