scholarly journals Activation of Ca2+-Dependent K+ Channels Contributes to Rhythmic Firing of Action Potentials in Mouse Pancreatic β Cells

1999 ◽  
Vol 114 (6) ◽  
pp. 759-770 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sven O. Göpel ◽  
Takahiro Kanno ◽  
Sebastian Barg ◽  
Lena Eliasson ◽  
Juris Galvanovskis ◽  
...  

We have applied the perforated patch whole-cell technique to β cells within intact pancreatic islets to identify the current underlying the glucose-induced rhythmic firing of action potentials. Trains of depolarizations (to simulate glucose-induced electrical activity) resulted in the gradual (time constant: 2.3 s) development of a small (<0.8 nS) K+ conductance. The current was dependent on Ca2+ influx but unaffected by apamin and charybdotoxin, two blockers of Ca2+-activated K+ channels, and was insensitive to tolbutamide (a blocker of ATP-regulated K+ channels) but partially (>60%) blocked by high (10–20 mM) concentrations of tetraethylammonium. Upon cessation of electrical stimulation, the current deactivated exponentially with a time constant of 6.5 s. This is similar to the interval between two successive bursts of action potentials. We propose that this Ca2+-activated K+ current plays an important role in the generation of oscillatory electrical activity in the β cell.

Endocrinology ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 139 (3) ◽  
pp. 993-998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Claude Henquin

Glucose stimulation of pancreatic β-cells triggers electrical activity (slow waves of membrane potential with superimposed spikes) that is best monitored with intracellular microelectrodes. Closure of ATP-sensitive K+ channels underlies the depolarization to the threshold potential and participates in the increase in electrical activity produced by suprathreshold (>7 mm) concentrations of glucose, but it is still unclear whether this is the sole mechanism of control. This was investigated by testing whether blockade of ATP-sensitive K+ channels by low concentrations of tolbutamide is able to mimic the effects of glucose on mouse β-cell electrical activity even in the absence of the sugar. The response to tolbutamide was influenced by the duration of the perifusion with the low glucose medium. Tolbutamide (25 μm) caused a rapid and sustained depolarization with continuous activity after 6 min of perifusion of the islet with 3 mm glucose, and a progressive depolarization with slow waves of the membrane potential after 20 min. In the absence of glucose, the β-cell response to tolbutamide was a transient phase of depolarization with rare slow waves (6 min) or a silent, small, but sustained, depolarization (20 min). Readministration of 3 mm glucose was sufficient to restore slow waves, whereas an increase in the glucose concentration to 5 and 7 mm was followed by a lengthening of the slow waves and a shortening of the intervals. In contrast, induction of slow waves by tolbutamide proved very difficult in the absence of glucose, because the β-cell membrane tended to depolarize from a silent level to the plateau level, at which electrical activity is continuous. Azide, a mitochondrial poison, abrogated the electrical activity induced by tolbutamide in the absence of glucose, which demonstrates the influence of the metabolism of endogenous fuels on the response to the sulfonylurea. The partial repolarization that azide also produced was reversed by increasing the concentration of tolbutamide, but reappearance of the spikes required the addition of glucose. It is concluded that inhibition of ATP-sensitive K+ channels is not the only mechanism by which glucose controls electrical activity inβ -cells.


2021 ◽  
Vol 154 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara Theiner ◽  
Noelia Jacobo-Piqueras ◽  
Nadine J. Ortner ◽  
Stefanie M. Geisler ◽  
Petronel Tuluc

Pancreatic β cells express several high voltage-gated Ca2+ channel (HVCC) isoforms critical for insulin release, cell differentiation, and survival. RNaseq and qPCR analyses demonstrated that CACNA1D gene encoding for CaV1.3-α1D isoform is highly expressed in pancreatic islets of both mice and men. Additionally, CACNA1D genetic polymorphisms were associated with increased susceptibility for diabetes while CaV1.3 gain-of-function mutations cause hyperinsulinemia in humans. Nevertheless, functional evidence for the role of CaV1.3 on β-cell electrical activity, insulin release, and β-cell mass is contradictory and largely unknown. Here, we show that CaV1.3 deletion led to a sixfold increase in DNA damage and a threefold decrease in proliferation markers in pancreatic β cells of 14-d-old mice, while adult mice were largely unaffected. However, β-cell mass was reduced by ∼20% in both young and old mice, resulting in a diminished sustained insulin release. Voltage-clamp recordings in β-cells of 14-d-old mice showed an ∼20% reduction in total Ca2+ influx (WT Ipeak = −19.76 ± 1.04 pA/pF; CaV1.3−/− Ipeak = −14.84 ± 0.61 pA/pF, P = 0.001) accompanied by slower inactivation and an ∼5 mV rightwards shift in the voltage dependence of activation (WT V1/2 = −7.71 ± 0.82 mV; CaV1.3−/− V1/2 = −2.32 ± 1.09 mV, P = 0.0003). Although to a lower extent, Ca2+ influx in adult CaV1.3−/− β cells was similarly affected. Moreover, current-clamp recordings showed that CaV1.3 deletion delayed the glucose-induced action potential (AP) onset, reduced AP firing frequency (e.g., at 7.5 mM glucose, WT = 4.3 Hz; CaV1.3−/− = 2.1 Hz, P = 0.001) and AP-train frequency (e.g., at 7.5 mM glucose intertrain interval, WT = 49.3 ± 9.6 s; CaV1.3−/− = 120.3 ± 25.5 s, P = 0.04) in both young and adult β cells. Therefore, our data demonstrate that the CaV1.3 channel is required for the initiation of glucose-induced β-cell electrical activity and modulates β-cell mass and insulin release in both young and old mice.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ionel Sandovici ◽  
Constanze M. Hammerle ◽  
Sam Virtue ◽  
Yurena Vivas-Garcia ◽  
Adriana Izquierdo-Lahuerta ◽  
...  

AbstractWhen exposed to nutrient excess and insulin resistance, pancreatic β-cells undergo adaptive changes in order to maintain glucose homeostasis. The role that growth control genes, highly expressed in early pancreas development, might exert in programming β-cell plasticity in later life is a poorly studied area. The imprinted Igf2 (insulin-like growth factor 2) gene is highly transcribed during early life and has been identified in recent genome-wide association studies as a type 2 diabetes susceptibility gene in humans. Hence, here we investigate the long-term phenotypic metabolic consequences of conditional Igf2 deletion in pancreatic β-cells (Igf2βKO) in mice. We show that autocrine actions of IGF2 are not critical for β-cell development, or for the early post-natal wave of β-cell remodelling. Additionally, adult Igf2βKO mice maintain glucose homeostasis when fed a chow diet. However, pregnant Igf2βKO females become hyperglycemic and hyperinsulinemic, and their conceptuses exhibit hyperinsulinemia and placentomegalia. Insulin resistance induced by congenital leptin deficiency also renders Igf2βKO females more hyperglycaemic compared to leptin-deficient controls. Upon high-fat diet feeding, Igf2βKO females are less susceptible to develop insulin resistance. Based on these findings, we conclude that in female mice, autocrine actions of β-cell IGF2 during early development determine their adaptive capacity in adult life.


2008 ◽  
Vol 197 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hasan Kulaksiz ◽  
Evelyn Fein ◽  
Peter Redecker ◽  
Wolfgang Stremmel ◽  
Guido Adler ◽  
...  

Body iron is involved in various vital functions. Its uptake in the intestine is regulated by hepcidin, a bioactive peptide originally identified in plasma and urine and subsequently in the liver. In the present study, we provide evidence at the transcriptional and translational levels that hepcidin is also expressed in the pancreas of rat and man. Immunohistochemical studies localized the peptide exclusively to β-cells of the islets of Langerhans. Immunoelectron microscopical analyses revealed that hepcidin is confined to the insulin-storing β-cell secretory granules. As demonstrated in insulinoma-derived RINm5F cells, the expression of hepcidin in β-cells is regulated by iron. Based on the present findings we conclude that pancreatic islets are an additional source of the peptide hepcidin. The localization of this peptide to β-cells suggests that pancreatic β-cells may be involved in iron metabolism in addition to their genuine function in blood glucose regulation. In view of the various linked iron/glucose disorders in the pancreas, the present findings may provide an insight into the phenomenology of intriguing mutual relationships between iron and glucose metabolisms.


FEBS Letters ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 583 (13) ◽  
pp. 2225-2230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masashi Yoshida ◽  
Katsuya Dezaki ◽  
Shiho Yamato ◽  
Atsushi Aoki ◽  
Hitoshi Sugawara ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zehua Liu ◽  
Bo Li

Recent studies support the view that highland barley as whole grain diet showed anti-hyperglycemic effects, while little information is available about the active compounds that could ameliorate pancreatic β cells...


2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sankaranand S. Vukkadapu ◽  
Jenine M. Belli ◽  
Koji Ishii ◽  
Anil G. Jegga ◽  
John J. Hutton ◽  
...  

In type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), also known as autoimmune diabetes, the pathogenic destruction of the insulin-producing pancreatic β-cells is under the control of and influenced by distinct subsets of T lymphocytes. To identify the critical genes expressed by autoimmune T cells, antigen presenting cells, and pancreatic β-cells during the evolution of T1DM in the nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse, and the genetically-altered NOD mouse (BDC/N), we used functional genomics. Microarray analysis revealed increased transcripts of genes encoding inflammatory cytokines, particularly interleukin (IL)-17, and islet cell regenerating genes, Reg3α, Reg3β, and Reg3γ. Our data indicate that progression to insulitis was connected to marked changes in islet antigen expression, β-cell differentiation, and T cell activation and signaling, all associated with tumor necrosis factor-α and IL-6 expression. Overt diabetes saw a clear shift in cytokine, chemokine, and T cell differentiation factor expression, consistent with a focused Th1 response, as well as a significant upregulation in genes associated with cellular adhesion, homing, and apoptosis. Importantly, the temporal pattern of expression of key verified genes suggested that T1DM develops in a relapsing/remitting as opposed to a continuous fashion, with insulitis linked to hypoxia-regulated gene control and diabetes with C/EBP and Nkx2 gene control.


2009 ◽  
Vol 83 (16) ◽  
pp. 8004-8011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Young-Sun Lee ◽  
Na Li ◽  
Seungjin Shin ◽  
Hee-Sook Jun

ABSTRACT The D variant of encephalomyocarditis virus (EMC-D virus) causes diabetes in mice by destroying pancreatic β cells. In mice infected with a low dose of EMC-D virus, macrophages play an important role in β-cell destruction by producing soluble mediators such as interleukin-1β (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and nitric oxide (NO). To investigate the role of NO and inducible NO synthase (iNOS) in the development of diabetes in EMC-D virus-infected mice, we infected iNOS-deficient DBA/2 mice with EMC-D virus (2 × 102 PFU/mouse). Mean blood glucose levels in EMC-D virus-infected iNOS-deficient mice and wild-type mice were 205.5 and 466.7 mg/dl, respectively. Insulitis and macrophage infiltration were reduced in islets of iNOS-deficient mice compared with wild-type mice at 3 days after EMC-D virus infection. Apoptosis of β cells was decreased in iNOS-deficient mice, as evidenced by reduced numbers of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling-positive cells. There were no differences in mRNA expression of antiapoptotic molecules Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, Bcl-w, Mcl-1, cIAP-1, and cIAP-2 between wild-type and iNOS-deficient mice, whereas expression of proapoptotic Bax and Bak mRNAs was significantly decreased in iNOS-deficient mice. Expression of IL-1β and TNF-α mRNAs was significantly decreased in both islets and macrophages of iNOS-deficient mice compared with wild-type mice after EMC-D virus infection. Nuclear factor κB was less activated in macrophages of iNOS-deficient mice after virus infection. We conclude that NO plays an important role in the activation of macrophages and apoptosis of pancreatic β cells in EMC-D virus-infected mice and that deficient iNOS gene expression inhibits macrophage activation and β-cell apoptosis, contributing to prevention of EMC-D virus-induced diabetes.


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