InSight Technology has been used to show the pancreatic islets of Langerhans adapt their content of insulin-producing beta-cells to changing insulin need. The results are published in PNAS in November 2013.
Blood glucose levels vary in an individual from one meal to the next as well as between meals. Variation can also seen between individuals. The body compensates for this variation by producing different amounts of insulin that regulates blood sugar levels.
In conditions, such as obesity, when more insulin is needed, the pancreatic islets of Langerhans try to adapt themselves to high blood sugar levels by generating more insulin-producing beta-cells. The exact process has been hard to study due to the fact that the islets of Langerhans sit deeply embedded in the surrounding pancreatic tissue.
Researchers in Professor P-O Berggren’s group have been able to overcome this challenge by employing InSight Technology. The islets of Langerhans were placed into the anterior chamber of the mouse eye. Using pharmacological treatment, the mice under evaluation reduced their food intake. This resulted in reduced growth of beta-cell population in the islet of Langerhans.
The results are published in PNAS in November 2013.
Read more:
- Reporter islets in the eye reveal plasticity of the endocrine pancreas. Erwin Ilegems, Andrea Dicker, Stephan Speier, Aarti Sharma, Alan Bahow, Patrick Karlsson Edlund, Ingo B. Leibiger, Per-Olof Berggren. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciece (PNAS) U S A. 2013 Nov 18
- Press release from Karolinska Institutet