Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Briefing
  • Published:

Functionally heterogeneous β cells regulate biphasic insulin secretion

Here, we reveal functional heterogeneity among β cells and discover that readily releasable β cells (RRβs) are a subpopulation that disproportionally contributes to biphasic glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. We further show that the dysfunction of RRβs has a crucial role in the progression of diabetes.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: RRβ cells dictate glucose-stimulated insulin secretion.

References

  1. Rorsman, P. & RenstrÖm, E. Insulin granule dynamics in pancreatic beta cells. Diabetologia 46, 1029–1045 (2003). A Review article that presents the cell biological models for phasic insulin secretion.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Benninger, R. K. P. & Hodson, D. J. New understanding of β-Cell heterogeneity and in situ islet function. Diabetes 67, 537–547 (2018). A Review article that summarizes the heterogeneity of β cells.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Kravets, V. et al. Functional architecture of pancreatic islets identifies a population of first re-sponder cells that drive the first-phase calcium response. PLoS Biol. 20, e3001761 (2022). This paper reports the first responder cells that drive the first-phase calcium response.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Salem, V. et al. Leader β-cells coordinate Ca2+ dynamics across pancreatic islets in vivo. Nat. Metab. 1, 615–629 (2019). This paper reports how leader cells coordinate Ca2+ dynamics across pancreatic islets.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Johnston, N. R. et al. Beta cell hubs dictate pancreatic islet responses to glucose. Cell Metab. 24, 389–401 (2016). This paper shows how β cell hubs dictate islet responses to glucose.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Peng, X. et al. Readily releasable β cells with tight Ca2+–exocytosis coupling dictate biphasic glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Nat. Metab. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-023-00962-0 (2024).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Functionally heterogeneous β cells regulate biphasic insulin secretion. Nat Metab 6, 207–208 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-023-00964-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-023-00964-y

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing