Background: Oral vanadyl sulfate (vanadium) induces normoglycemia, proliferates beta cells and prevents pancreatic islet atrophy in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Soteriological method is used to quantitate the proliferative effects of vanadium on beta-cell numbers and islet volumes of normal and diabetic rats. Methods: Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were made diabetic with intravenous s...

Type 2 diabetes is characterized by progressive decline in pancreatic beta cell function and persistent insulin resistance. Decreased beta cell mass and amyloid deposits in the islet are the pathological hallmark of the disease. Preserved beta cell function is the most important determinant of glucose disposal, even after adjustment for insulin sensitivity, which might modulate beta cell functi...

background: diabetes is a major public health problem. the development of new therapies that are able to improve glycemia management and even to cure diabetes is of great interest. in this study, protective effects of sodium tungstate against stz-induced beta-cell damages were investigated. methods: sixty rats were divided into six groups: control, diabetic, sodium tungstate treated diabetic ra...

Activin A and betacellulin (BTC) are thought to regulate differentiation of pancreatic beta-cells during development and regeneration of beta-cells in adults. In the present study, we used neonatal rats treated with streptozotocin (STZ) to investigate the effects of activin A and BTC on regeneration of pancreatic beta-cells. One-day-old Sprague-Dawley rats were injected with STZ (85 micro g/g) ...

Aberrant activation of beta-catenin/TCF (T-cell factor) signaling is frequently observed in the pancreatic cancer. However, the regulation of nuclear beta-catenin/TCF transcription machinery remains largely unknown. In this study, TFCP2 (transcriptional factor CP2) expression in pancreatic cancer was detected by qPCR, immunohistochemistry and western blot. Western blot, colony formation assay, ...

Pancreatic cancer is a devastating disease because of the lack of early detection markers and effective treatments. It is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in western countries, including the United States. The mechanisms of pancreatic cancer progression remain unknown. Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta), a multifunctional cytokine, regulates cell growth and differentiati...

Inflammatory injury to the pancreas results in regeneration of normal tissue and formation of metaplastic lesions of a ductal phenotype. These metaplastic ductal lesions (MDL) are called tubular complexes (TC), mucinous metaplasia, or pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia. Because they are regularly found in chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer, their formation is thought to represent a st...

Obesity is a chronic disease that shows the most serious global health problems .It relates to the body fat .Obesity is caused by an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure, this balance is regulated by genetic and environmental interactions. Obesity, which is a risk factor for chronic diseases, has become epidemic in the developed countries. Resistance to Leptin hormone is one of the m...

We used transgenesis to explore the requirement for downregulation of hepatocyte nuclear factor 6 (HNF6) expression in the assembly, differentiation, and function of pancreatic islets. In vivo, HNF6 expression becomes downregulated in pancreatic endocrine cells at 18. 5 days post coitum (d.p.c.), when definitive islets first begin to organize. We used an islet-specific regulatory element (pdx1(...

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is a potent gluco-incretin hormone, which plays a central role on pancreatic beta cell proliferation, survival and insulin secreting activity and whose analogs are used for treating hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Notably, abnormal insulin signaling affects all the above-mentioned aspects on pancreatic beta cells. The aim of our study was to investigat...