Talk:Pancreatic islets

John Leonora
While hypothalamic signaling and vascular regulation are both very important to Islet function, the relationship between these processes is tangential at best, and not particularly appropriate for an encyclopedia-level description of islet physiology. I respectfully request that the John Leonora reference/link not be added to the page again, unless a more cogent argument for his inclusion can be provided. Thanks. BillyBoy 05:26, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Necessity of Electical Coupling and Transplantation Sections
What do people think of removing these sections? Most of the information in the transplatation section is already covered in the cell-based therapy section, except for the information about the Pander gene...this seems to be a little far flung into scientific minutiae for the scope of this article. Also I don't see why the patch clamp information is necessary. It could be replaced with a couple of sentences about Ca2+ and K+ signaling in the islets, and how gap junctions are required for islet synchrony. I'd be willing to make the appropriate changes if others feel they are warranted. BillyBoy 05:42, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

I am wondering, would it be okay to say the cells can be transplanted from one patient ot another as an attempt to treat type 1 diabetes [

Not quite yet?
"Diabetes experts caution that the procedure has been performed only once and in a patient whose diabetes was not typical" http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-04-18-transplant-diabetes_x.htm

and not without problems
Research has been carried out on transplantation of these cells, and with some success. This is known as the Edmonton protocol since it was pioneered in Canada. However, it seems to require extracts of at least two individuals to harvest enough Islets to make the procedure work, and these are usually from donated organs. The other downside is that the recipient has to take anti-rejection drugs from then on.

The holy grail is to find either a drug that can restimulate the body into making Islets, or use stem cells from the patient to manufacture sufficient Islets for a transplantation which would not have the same rejection issues.

mass of islet of langerhans reduced in type 2 diabetes
I see the article mentions type 1 diabetes, but not type 2? (I don't know if type 1 is even correct)

reference: Butler, A.E. et al. beta-cell deficit and increased beta-cell apoptosis in humans with type 2 diabetes, Diabetes 52, 102-110 (2003)

Redd492 22:00, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

electrical coupling
"...and beta-cells are coupled electrically to beta-cells (but not to other cell-types)." Does this mean that beta-cells are coupled to one another, or is it a mistake meaning beta and alpha cells are coupled (this could make sense given their functions)? It's not completely obvious for me. LaFoiblesse 14:36, 26 May 2007 (GMT)

I don't know entirely about the electrical coupling. I do know that a lot of research has shown that beta-cells are tightly integrated through gap junctions, so that insulin secretion is a concerted response within a given islet to increased glucose concentrations in the blood. BillyBoy 00:56, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

I doubt the quoted statement is completely true. I am currently reading a book called The Endocrine Pancreas by Robert Hazelwood. Albeit published in 1989, it references a paper (Orci, L. 1982. Macro- and micro-domains in the endocrine pancreas. Diabetes. 31:538-565) which purportedly states that gap junctions connecting a- and b-cells and a- and d-cells in rat and humans have been documented. I have not read the paper because I do not have access, but given this reference, I find it highly unlikely that b-cells are not coupled in some manner to a-cells. And depending on the physiology b-cells may be indirectly connected to d-cells. Bjf624 (talk) 20:17, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

Advertisement
The "holy grail" may be just around the corner! Please check out the  - they are beginning human clinicl trials soon and have had fantastic success so far in reversing Type 1 diabetes in test animals. They are using specially bred pigs and the porcine islet transplants do not appear to be rejected by the body, negating the need for immunosupressant drugs for the rest of your life! I urge you to visit their website and learn more, they are on the verge of cure I believe!!! I have no medical background, just a mother with a daughter who takes 4 insulin shots a day.

JamesonJamesonisme (talk) 14:36, 4 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Hi Jamesonisme,
 * These pages really aren't designed for promoting our favorite causes. I've removed the name of the organization and the link because it appears to be primarily a fundraising website.  You might be interested in our policy about external links and WP:what Wikipedia is not.  WhatamIdoing (talk) 23:00, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

New publication
While it is still early work, editors here may wish to read "Disruption of the clock components CLOCK and BMAL1 leads to hypoinsulinaemia and diabetes" in todays Nature. Be sure to check out the supplementary information. LeadSongDog come howl!  19:06, 18 June 2010 (UTC)

Citations and Clinical Significance Section
This article does a great job laying out its contents and discussing the features and functions of pancreatic islets in a concise manner. In addition, throughout most of the article, information is properly cited with functional links. However, the “Clinical Significance” section could use some further revising. The diabetes subsection and the last two paragraphs of the transplantation subsection have no citations, despite containing plenty of information from several outside sources. Furthermore, these subsections feel unbalanced in terms of providing necessary information for the article. The diabetes subsection is underrepresented in this article, and it should be expanded with information from recently published medical reviews and publications. Currently, there is an extensive pool of knowledge about the relationship between nonfunctional pancreatic islets and diabetes (especially type 1 diabetes), but this Wikipedia article hardly covers it. In contrast, the transplantation subsection seems rather long, and some of its content does not seem necessary for this article. For this reason, the transplantation subsection could be written more concisely.

Immcarle38 (talk) 02:11, 29 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Agreed. Have made transplantation section marginally more concise. Will improve further tomorrow. PriceDL (talk) 02:23, 12 February 2017 (UTC)

Change the phrasing and add it
Hormones produced in the pancreatic islets are secreted directly into the bloodstream by five different types of cells. The alpha cells produce glucagon, and make up 15–20% of total islet cells. The beta cells produce insulin and amylin, and make up 65–80% of the total islet cells. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:2149:825F:3F00:94A8:F473:2075:91C8 (talk) 15:35, 23 September 2018 (UTC)