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Islets of Langerhans
Additional recommended knowledge
Cell typesHormones produced in the Islets of Langerhans are secreted directly into the blood flow by (at least) four different types of cells:
Islets can influence each other through paracrine and autocrine communication, and beta-cells are coupled electrically to beta-cells (but not to other cell-types). Paracrine feedbackThe paracrine feedback system of the islets of Langerhans has the following structure:
Electrical activityElectrical activity of pancreatic islets has been studied using patch clamp techniques, and it has turned out that the behavior of cells in intact islets differs significantly from the behaviour of dispersed cells. As a treatment for type I diabetesSince the beta cells in islets of Langerhans are destroyed in type I diabetes, clinicians and researchers are actively pursuing islet transplantation technology as a means of curing this disease. Islet transplantation which currently requires immune suppression would be safer for type-1 diabetics if the need for lifelong immune suppression were eliminated. TransplantationWith the possiblity of restoring beta cells, the Chicago Project headed at University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center is probing for a way to regenerate beta cells in the islets and have them cultivate on their own within a human pancreas. With that being said, beta cells experience apoptosis early and thus become destroyed within a normal-functioning pancreas. The source of this seems to come from the transfer of Pander, a gene that enters in by attaching to RNA. This process of RNA transportation can be found in the glucose that bombards the beta cells. The genetic encoding found within Pander causes the beta cells to stop during the S phase of mitosis and head straight to apotasis. This ceases much of the reproduction of beta cells within the Islets. References in pop culture
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Islets_of_Langerhans". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia. |