Pancreatic Beta Islet Cells
Pancreatic Beta Islet Cells - Related Videos
07:21
Pancreatic Islets Isolation through Collagenase Perfusion: An Enzymatic Method to Isolate Pancreatic Islet Cells
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2023
Pancreatic islets, also called the Islets of Langerhans, are a cluster of endocrine cells which produces hormones for glucose regulation and other important biological functions. This protocol explains a method for isolating pancreatic islets by first perfusing collagenase via Ampulla of Vater to digest the exocrine pancreatic tissue and a simplified density gradient centrifugation to purify the islets from mice.
09:35
A High-content In Vitro Pancreatic Islet β-cell Replication Discovery Platform
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Cited by 5 •
2016
Critical challenges for the diabetes research field are to understand the molecular mechanisms that regulate islet β-cell replication and to develop methods for stimulating β-cell regeneration. Herein a high-content screening method to identify and assess the β-cell replication-promoting activity of small molecules is presented.
03:33
Grafting Pancreatic Islets: A Method to Implant Pancreatic Islets into the Anterior Chamber of the Mouse Eye for In Vivo Imaging
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2023
This video describes the protocol for grafting human pancreatic islets into the anterior chamber of the mouse’s eye to monitor revascularization of human islet grafts in vivo. It also helps to understand the contribution of recipient versus donor cells in promoting the encapsulation and vascularization of the graft.
14:39
A Simple and Rapid Method for Simultaneous Isolation of Primary Islets and Primary Pancreatic Acinar Cells from Mice
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2026
This study developed a simplified method to efficiently extract functional primary islets and acinar cells from the mouse pancreas, offering a valuable tool for studying intercellular communication in the pathogenesis of Acute Pancreatitis-Induced Diabetes.
05:10
Imaging Calcium Dynamics in Pancreatic Cells: A Technique to Study Real-time Changes in Cytosolic Calcium Concentration in Pancreatic Islet
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2023
This video describes the technique of imaging islet cells in real-time, to study the changes in cytosolic calcium concentration in the minor subpopulations of the pancreatic islet cells. Minor cell subpopulations can be identified using functional responses to marker compounds, such as adrenaline and ghrelin, that induce changes in cytosolic calcium in a specific populations of islet cells. This can provide an insight into the cross talk between the blood glucose and the islet secretory output.
FAQs
Glucose metabolism raises the cell’s ATP-to-ADP ratio, which closes ATP-sensitive potassium channels in the beta-cell membrane. This closure changes the membrane voltage, producing depolarization. The resulting electrical change activates voltage-gated calcium channels, linking glucose metabolism to the intracellular calcium increase required for insulin release.
These channels connect the metabolic state of the beta cell with its electrical activity. When glucose metabolism increases the ATP-to-ADP ratio, the channels close rather than allowing potassium movement that maintains the prior membrane state. Their closure initiates depolarization, making them a key regulatory step before calcium entry and insulin secretion.
Depolarization opens voltage-gated calcium channels, allowing calcium to enter the beta cell and elevate intracellular calcium concentration. This increase acts as the immediate signal for insulin-containing secretory granules to fuse with the plasma membrane. Calcium therefore converts an electrical response to glucose into the membrane-fusion event that releases insulin.
Diabetes mellitus can arise when beta-cell activity is impaired or when beta cells are lost, reducing the system’s ability to support glucose homeostasis. Disruption at any stage, including glucose-linked signaling, calcium-triggered secretion, or the availability of insulin-producing cells, can compromise effective insulin release and alter blood-glucose regulation.
Studies of these cells can clarify how glucose is translated into insulin release through metabolic, electrical, calcium, and secretory steps. This work helps investigators examine normal glucose homeostasis and identify where beta-cell function fails. The resulting information supports research into disease mechanisms and the development of drugs that affect insulin secretion.
Because beta-cell loss or dysfunction contributes to diabetes mellitus, these cells are important targets for islet transplantation and regenerative approaches. Research can focus on restoring or replacing insulin-producing cellular function rather than examining secretion alone. Such studies extend beta-cell biology from mechanism-based investigation toward potential strategies for addressing impaired glucose regulation.