Relationship between beta-cell mass and fasting blood glucose concentration in humans.

In type 2 diabetes there is a progressive defect of insulin secretion that precedes the development of hyperglycemia (1). This defect appears to be at least in part due to a deficit in -cell mass (2– 4). Several therapeutic strategies are now being proposed that may reverse the defect in -cell mass in people with type 2 diabetes, for example glucagon-like peptide 1 or glucagon-like peptide 1–like surrogates (5). However, the relationship between -cell mass and the blood glucose in humans is uncertain. Here we report the relative -cell volume in pancreata obtained at autopsy from people with well-documented blood glucose concentrations in life.