Diabetes Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Diabetes, including details on insulin, type i, type ii, diet, treatment, prevention.

Generation of insulin-secreting cells from pancreatic acinar cells of animal models of type 1 diabetes.

Okuno M, Minami K, Okumachi A, Miyawaki K, Yokoi N, Toyokuni S, Seino S

Division of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Kobe Univ. Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe 650-0017, Japan. seino@med.kobe-u.ac.jp

We recently found that pancreatic acinar cells isolated from normal adult mouse can transdifferentiate into insulin-secreting cells in vitro. Using two different animal models of type 1 diabetes, we show here that insulin-secreting cells can also be generated from pancreatic acinar cells of rodents in the diabetic state with absolute insulin deficiency. When pancreatic acinar cells of streptozotocin-treated mice were cultured in suspension in the presence of epidermal growth factor and nicotinamide under low-serum condition, expressions of insulin genes gradually increased. In addition, expressions of other pancreatic hormones, including glucagon, somatostatin, and pancreatic polypeptide, were also induced. Analysis by the Cre/loxP-based direct cell lineage tracing system revealed that these newly made cells originated from amylase-expressing pancreatic acinar cells. Insulin secretion from the newly made cells was significantly stimulated by high glucose and other secretagogues. In addition, insulin-secreting cells were generated from pancreatic acinar cells of Komeda diabetes-prone rats, another animal model of type 1 diabetes. The present study demonstrates that insulin-secreting cells can be generated by transdifferentiation from pancreatic acinar cells of rodents in the diabetic state and further suggests that pancreatic acinar cells represent a potential source of autologous transplantable insulin-secreting cells for treatment of type 1 diabetes.

Published 4 January 2007 in Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, 292(1): E158-65.
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