(Press-News.org) Patients with type 2 diabetes have increased levels of circulating glucose and fatty acids, which lead to disease complications. In healthy individuals, β cells within pancreatic islets release insulin in response to glucose and incretins, which are gastrointestinal hormones. Coordination between β cells is predicted to be important for insulin release. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, David Hodson and colleagues at Imperial College London demonstrate that β cell-β cell interactions are important for insulin secretion in human islets and that these interactions are regulated by incretins. The authors found that increased fatty acid levels suppressed incretin-associated insulin release. These findings indicate that therapies aimed at maintaining β cell connectivity may be useful for restoring glucose balance in type 2 diabetes. ###
TITLE:
Lipotoxicity disrupts incretin-regulated human β cell connectivity
AUTHOR CONTACT:
David Hodson
Imperial College London, London, , GBR
Phone: 447812029560; E-mail: d.hodson@imperial.ac.uk
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/68459?key=b5c05d603bada96f2ee1 END
Insulin secretion disrupted by increased fatty acids
2013-09-09
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