Pancreatic β-Cell Electrical Activity and Insulin Secretion: Of Mice and Men.

ABSTRACT: The pancreatic β-cell plays a key role in glucose homeostasis by secreting insulin, the only hormone capable of lowering the blood glucose concentration. Impaired insulin secretion results in the chronic hyperglycemia that characterizes type 2 diabetes (T2DM), which currently afflicts >450 million people worldwide. The healthy β-cell acts as a glucose sensor matching its output to the circulating glucose concentration. It does so via metabolically induced changes in electrical activity, which culminate in an increase in the cytoplasmic Ca²⁺ concentration and initiation of Ca²⁺-dependent exocytosis of insulin-containing secretory granules. Here, we review recent advances in our understanding of the β-cell transcriptome, electrical activity, and insulin exocytosis. We h

SUBMITTER: Rorsman P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5866358 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature