Abstract
The islet of Langerhans contains at least five types of endocrine cells producing distinct hormones. In response to nutrient or neuronal stimulation, islet endocrine cells release biochemicals including peptide hormones to regulate metabolism and to control glucose homeostasis. It is now recognized that malfunction of islet cells, notably insufficient insulin release of β-cells and hypersecretion of glucagon from α-cells, represents a causal event leading to hyperglycemia and frank diabetes, a disease that is increasing at an alarming rate to reach an epidemic level worldwide. Understanding the mechanisms regulating stimulus-secretion coupling and investigating how islet β-cells maintain a robust secretory activity are important topics in islet biology and diabetes research. To facilitate such studies, a number of biological systems and assay platforms have been developed for the functional analysis of islet cells. These technologies have enabled detailed analyses of individual islets at the cellular level, either in vitro, in situ, or in vivo.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 14-19 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology |
Volume | 103 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 2020 |
Keywords
- Alpha cell
- Beta cell
- Beta cell heterogeneity
- Calcium imaging
- Delta cell
- Diabetes
- Human islets
- Imaging hormone secretion
- Insulin secretion
- Pancreatic islets
- Pseudoislet
- ZIMIR
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Developmental Biology
- Cell Biology