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Talk:Pancreatic islets

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by BCarver1 (talk | contribs) at 05:42, 26 April 2008. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

John Leonora

While hypothalamic signaling and vascular regulation are both very important to Islet function, the relationship between these processes is tangential at best, and not particularly appropriate for an encyclopedia-level description of islet physiology. I respectfully request that the John Leonora reference/link not be added to the page again, unless a more cogent argument for his inclusion can be provided. Thanks. BillyBoy 05:26, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Necessity of Electical Coupling and Transplantation Sections

What do people think of removing these sections? Most of the information in the transplatation section is already covered in the cell-based therapy section, except for the information about the Pander gene...this seems to be a little far flung into scientific minutiae for the scope of this article. Also I don't see why the patch clamp information is necessary. It could be replaced with a couple of sentences about Ca2+ and K+ signaling in the islets, and how gap junctions are required for islet synchrony. I'd be willing to make the appropriate changes if others feel they are warranted. BillyBoy 05:42, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

I am wondering, would it be okay to say the cells can be transplanted from one patient ot another as an attempt to treat type 1 diabetes [[1]

Not quite yet?

"Diabetes experts caution that the procedure has been performed only once and in a patient whose diabetes was not typical" http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-04-18-transplant-diabetes_x.htm

and not without problems

Research has been carried out on transplantation of these cells, and with some success. This is known as the Edmonton protocol since it was pioneered in Canada. However, it seems to require extracts of at least two individuals to harvest enough Islets to make the procedure work, and these are usually from donated organs. The other downside is that the recipient has to take anti-rejection drugs from then on.

The holy grail is to find either a drug that can restimulate the body into making Islets, or use stem cells from the patient to manufacture sufficient Islets for a transplantation which would not have the same rejection issues.

mass of islet of langerhans reduced in type 2 diabetes

I see the article mentions type 1 diabetes, but not type 2? (I don't know if type 1 is even correct)

reference: Butler, A.E. et al. beta-cell deficit and increased beta-cell apoptosis in humans with type 2 diabetes, Diabetes 52, 102-110 (2003)

Redd492 22:00, 14 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

electrical coupling

"...and beta-cells are coupled electrically to beta-cells (but not to other cell-types)." Does this mean that beta-cells are coupled to one another, or is it a mistake meaning beta and alpha cells are coupled (this could make sense given their functions)? It's not completely obvious for me. LaFoiblesse 14:36, 26 May 2007 (GMT)


I don't know entirely about the electrical coupling. I do know that a lot of research has shown that beta-cells are tightly integrated through gap junctions, so that insulin secretion is a concerted response within a given islet to increased glucose concentrations in the blood. BillyBoy 00:56, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

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