The pancreatic islet is a functional microorgan involved in maintaining normoglycemia through regulated secretion of insulin and other hormones. Extracellular glucose stimulates insulin secretion from islet beta cells through an increase in redox state, which can be measured by NAD(P)H autofluorescence. Glucose concentrations over approximately 7 mM generate synchronous oscillations in beta cel...

Hypertension often occurs in conjunction with insulin resistance. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether sustained renal hypertension increases the risk of diabetes mellitus in rats, and to define the underlying mechanisms. Two-kidney, one-clip hypertensive (2K1C) rats received captopril (50 mg/kg/day), α-lipoic acid (100 mg/kg/day), or vehicle treatment for 3 months after surgery. B...

A novel strategy for delivering functionalised superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles to the outer surface of pancreatic islet grafts, using chemically modified polymeric nanolayers, has been developed for tracking of engrafted pancreatic islets by magnetic resonance imaging.

While regional heterogeneity in islet distribution has been well studied in rodents, less is known about human pancreatic histology. To fill gaps in our understanding, regional differences in the adult human pancreas were quantitatively analyzed including the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Cadaveric pancreas specimens were collected from the head, body and tail regions of each donor, in...

In type 1 diabetes, the pancreatic islets are an important site for therapeutic intervention because immune infiltration of the islets is well established at diagnosis. Therefore, understanding the events that underlie the continued progression of the autoimmune response and islet destruction is critical. Islet infiltration and destruction is an asynchronous process, making it important to anal...

Streptozotocin (STZ) is an antibiotic that causes pancreatic islet β-cell destruction and widely used experimentally to produce a model of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Detailed in this article are protocols for producing STZ-induced insulin deficiency hyperglycemia mice rats. Also described creating animal models 2 using STZ. These animals employed assessing the pathological consequences sc...

Fucoidan Hydrogels In article number 2011205, Tiago H. Silva, Aart A. van Apeldoorn, and co-workers explore the potential of fucoidan, a marine sulfated polysaccharide, for pancreatic islet encapsulation. has high fucose contents with sulfate groups, demonstrating potent antioxidant properties significantly alleviating oxidative stress enhancing viability function encapsulated beta cells. A fuc...

Failure of revascularization is known to be the major reason for the poor outcome of pancreatic islet transplantation. In this study, we analyzed whether pseudoislets composed of islet cells and bone marrow cells can improve vascularization and function of islet transplants. Pancreatic islets isolated from Syrian golden hamsters were dispersed into single cells for the generation of pseudoislet...

The stresses encountered during islet isolation and culture may have deleterious effects on beta-cell physiology. However, the biological response of human islet cells to isolation remains poorly characterized. A better understanding of the network of signaling pathways induced by islet isolation and culturing may lead to strategies aimed at improving islet graft survival and function. Laser ca...

Pancreatic islet transplantation has become a recognized therapy for insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. During isolation from pancreatic tissue, the islet microenvironment is disrupted. The extracellular matrix (ECM) within this space not only provides structural support, but also actively signals to regulate islet survival and function. In addition, the ECM is responsible for growth factor p...