Insulin-Producing Cells Regenerated in Mice

Insulin is a hormone that decreases blood glucose levels. The only cells that produce insulin are pancreatic beta cells (β-cells), and a decrease in these cells is a major cause of diabetes. Although therapies aimed at increasing pancreatic β-cells are eagerly awaited, a strategy that can increase β-cells has, thus far, not been developed.

In a promising development, a research group has revealed that stimulating autonomic vagal nerves connected to the pancreas can improve the function and also increase the number of pancreatic β-cells in mice.

Stimulating the pancreatic vagal nerves activated β-cells in terms of both quality and quantity. When Imai and his colleagues applied this method to a mouse model of insulin-deficient diabetes, the regeneration of pancreatic β-cells ameliorated diabetes in these mice. 

This represents the first successful treatment of diabetes in mice by stimulating the vagal nerves connected to the pancreas.

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Sources:

Yohei Kawana, Junta Imai, Yosuke M. Morizawa, Yoko Ikoma, Masato Kohata, Hiroshi Komamura, Toshihiro Sato, Tomohito Izumi, Junpei Yamamoto, Akira Endo, Hiroto Sugawara, Haremaru Kubo, Shinichiro Hosaka, Yuichiro Munakata, Yoichiro Asai, Shinjiro Kodama, Kei Takahashi, Keizo Kaneko, Shojiro Sawada, Tetsuya Yamada, Akira Ito, Kuniyasu Niizuma, Teiji Tominaga, Akihiro Yamanaka, Ko Matsui, Hideki Katagiri. Optogenetic stimulation of vagal nerves for enhanced glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and β cell proliferation. Nature Biomedical Engineering, 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41551-023-01113-2

Tohoku University. (2023, December 4). Stimulating nerves connected to the pancreas regenerates insulin-producing cells, mouse study shows. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 4, 2023 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/12/231204135211.htm

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