Cx36 makes channels coupling human pancreatic beta-cells, and correlates with insulin expression.

ABSTRACT: Previous studies have documented that the insulin-producing beta-cells of laboratory rodents are coupled by gap junction channels made solely of the connexin36 (Cx36) protein, and have shown that loss of this protein desynchronizes beta-cells, leading to secretory defects reminiscent of those observed in type 2 diabetes. Since human islets differ in several respects from those of laboratory rodents, we have now screened human pancreas, and islets isolated thereof, for expression of a variety of connexin genes, tested whether the cognate proteins form functional channels for islet cell exchanges, and assessed whether this expression changes with beta-cell function in islets of control and type 2 diabetics. Here, we show that (i) different connexin isoforms are differentially distributed in

SUBMITTER: Serre-Beinier V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2638800 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature