The unique innervation pattern of the human islets of Langerhans has been described in two articles in the Nature Medicine and Cell Metabolism. These results will have major implications for future development of novel drugs for the treatment of diabetes.
Hormone release by the endocrine pancreas is regulated by the autonomic, non-voluntarily, nervous system, consisting of parasympathetic and sympathetic nerves. Until now the interplay between the nervous system and hormone releasing cells of the human endocrine pancreas has been unclear.
Professor Per-Olof Berggren’s research group has now discovered that the human islet is only scarcely innervated by acetylcholine releasing parasympathetic nerves. Instead, this regulating neurotransmitter substance is released by the glucagon producing alpha-cells.
Moreover, the sympathetic system innervates the smooth muscle cells of the blood vessels instead of endocrine cells. This implies indirect control of hormone release following changes in blood flow.
The findings of the unique innervation patterns are important for development of novel pharmacological strategies in the treatment of diabetes and its complications.
Read more:
- Alpha cells secrete acetylcholine as a non-neuronal paracrine signal priming beta cell function in humans. Rodriguez-Diaz R et.al. Nat Med. 2011, June; 17(7):888-92
- Autonomic axons in the human endocrine pancreas show unique innervation patterns. Rodriguez-Diaz R, Abdulreda MH, Formoso AL, Gans I, Ricordi C, Berggren P-O and Caicedo A. Cell Metabolism, July 2011