Blood glucose levels are tightly controlled by the two peptide hormones glucagon and insulin. At hyperglycaemia, B-cells in the islets of Langerhans secrete insulin, whereas islet A-cells release glucagon at hypoglycaemia to stimulate e.g. glucose production in the liver. Previously, an important role for nitric oxide (NO) in the development of type-1 diabetes mellitus (insulin dependent diabet...

Islets of Langerhans are a pancreatic endocrine compartment consisting of insulin-producing β cells together with several other hormone-producing cells. While some insulin-producing cells or immature pancreatic cells have been generated in vitro from ES and iPS cells, islets with proper functions and a three-dimensional (3D) structure have never been successfully produced. To test whether islet...

GLP-1 and its analog have been used in diabetes treatment; however, the direct alteration of gene expression profile in human islets induced by GLP-1 has not been reported. In present study, transcriptional gene expression in the liraglutide-treated human islets was analyzed with 12 human U133A chips including 23000 probe sets. The data compared between liraglutide and control groups showed a s...

T cells play an important role in the pathogenesis of diabetes in the nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse. CD8 cytotoxic T cell lines and clones were generated from the lymphocytic infiltrate in the islets of Langerhans of young (7-wk-old). NOD mice by growing them on (NOD x B6-RIP-B7-1)F1 islets. These cells proliferate specifically to NOD islets and kill NOD islets in vitro. The cells are restricte...

As Janbon first reported in 1942, some sulfonamide derivatives(S)have an action which lowers blood sugar level, and they are nowadays profited to clinical practice. There are several opinions in regard to the mechanism of the hypoglycemic action of S, such as, increased secretion of insulin or inhibition of the discharge of glucagon, etc. , however, it has not yet been completely understood. It...