When isolated rat islets were exposed to glucose, the concentrations of NADH and NADPH, and the NADH/NAD+ and NADPH/NADP+ ratios were increased. The dose-response curve resembled that characterising the glucose-induced secondary rise in 45Ca efflux, displaying a sigmoidal pattern with a half-maximal value at glucose 7.5 mmol/l. The glucose-induced increase in NAD(P)H was detectable within 1 min of exposure to the sugar. Except for the fall in ATP concentration and ATP/ADP ratio found at very low glucose concentrations (zero to 1.7 mmol/l) no effect of glucose (2.8-27.8 mmol/l) upon the steady-state concentration of adenine nucleotides was observed. However, a stepwise increase in glucose concentration provoked a dramatic and transient fall in the ATP concentration, followed by a sustained increase in both O2 consumption and oxidation of exogenous + endogenous nutrients. This may be essential to meet the energy requirements in the stimulated B-cell. Although no significant effect of glucose upon intracellular pH was detected by the 5,5-dimethyloxazolidine-2,4-dione method, the net release of H+ was markedly increased by glucose, with a hyperbolic dose-response curve (half-maximal response at glucose 2.9 mmol/l) similar to that characterising the glucose-induced initial fall in 45Ca efflux. It is proposed that the generation of both NAD(P)H and H+ participates in the coupling of glucose metabolism to distal events in the secretory sequence, especially the ionophoretic process of Ca2+ inward and outward transport, and that changes in these parameters occur in concert with an increased turn-over rate of high-energy phosphate intermediates.