J Diabetes Investig
March 2018
Human β-cells are functionally mature by the age of 1 year. The timeline and mechanisms of this maturation are unknown owing to the exceptional availability of testable tissue. Here, we report the first in vitro study of insulin secretion by islets from a 5-day-old newborn.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: To understand better the control of insulin secretion by human β cells and to identify similarities to and differences from rodent models.
Methods: Dynamic insulin secretion was measured in perifused human islets treated with pharmacological agents of known modes of action.
Results: Glucokinase activation (Ro28-1675) lowered the glucose threshold for stimulation of insulin secretion to 1 mmol/L (G1), augmented the response to G3-G5 but not to G8-G15, whereas tolbutamide remained active in G20, which indicates that not all K channels were closed by high glucose concentrations.
Insulin secretion has only exceptionally been investigated in pancreatic islets from healthy young children. It remains unclear whether those islets behave like adult islets despite substantial differences in cellular composition and higher β-cell replication rates. Islets were isolated from 5 infants/toddlers (11-36 month-old) and perifused to characterize their dynamics of insulin secretion when subjected to various stimuli and inhibitors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAmplification of insulin secretion by cyclic AMP involves activation of protein kinase A (PKA) and Epac2 in pancreatic β cells. Recent hypotheses suggest that sulphonylurea receptor-1 (SUR1), the regulatory subunit of ATP-sensitive potassium channels, is implicated in Epac2 effects and that direct activation of Epac2 by hypoglycaemic sulphonylureas contributes to the stimulation of insulin secretion by these drugs. In the present experiments, using islets from Sur1KO mice, we show that dibutyryl-cAMP and membrane-permeant selective activators of Epac or PKA normally amplify insulin secretion in β cells lacking SUR1.
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