T Cells behaviors uncovered with InSight Technology featured in JEM on the 24th of February, 2014. How real-time imaging studies depicted the interaction of self-antigen-specific T cells with target tissue cells in vivo, has been described in an article in JEM, The Journal of Experimental Medicine. The study illustrates tolerance induction by contact-based immune cell …
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 exact cause of either type 1 or type 2 diabetes still remains unknown. Inflammation of the insulin-producing islets of Langerhans seems to be one of the common denominators during the early stage of both diseases. InSight Technology is a promising analytical tool for studying the inflammation processes. The review is published in Diabetes, Obesity …
Signal transduction between the diabetogenic blood factor apolipoprotein CIII (apoCIII) and insulin-producing beta cells is now clarified. ApoCIII acts upon the calcium channels through kinases PKA and Src, involving a receptor SR-BI and an integrin beta1. The results are published in Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences on the 15th of August 2013. Calcium is very …
Advantages of and protocols for using InSight Technology as an imaging platform are presented in the March 2013 issue of the Journal of Visualized Experiments. Intravital, performed in the living organism, imaging has become an important tool in life sciences. A number of different technologies have emerged over the years and have been adapted to …
Researchers in Professor P-O Berggren’s group proposed utilizing InSight Technology to answer questions of islet development during infancy and puberty and to describe a ”point-of-no-return” for islet development programming. The commentary is published in Molecular Metabolism in January 2013. Genes and obesity are two major factors that contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes …
Blood glucose levels are controlled by the autonomous nervous system. Parasympathetic axons directly influence islet function, leading to higher insulin release and lower levels of blood glucose. The results are published in December 2012 in PNAS. The autonomous nervous system responsible for the unconscious regulation consists of parasympathetic and sympathetic parts, managing the calm and …
Once a hormone is released it can stimulate its own production. This principle was previously proven by Professor Berggren’s group in relation to insulin. Now the same group shows the generality of the approach: glucagon secreting cells increase their production when they sense increasing levels of glucagon. The results are published in PNAS in December …
The researchers in Professor Berggren’s group are in the forefront of resolving key challenges in understanding the molecular signalling in the islets of Langerhans, the endocrine pancreas. Specification of differences between human and mouse islet architecture and function as well as possibility to image molecular processes in the living organism will eventually lead to insights …
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 …