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Project

Mechanism and relevance of beta cell serotonin competence during pregnancy.

Pancreatic beta cells are unique in that only they can release insulin, a crucial hormone for blood glucose homeostasis. Failure of insulin release regulation, either by destruction of beta cells or insufficient insulin release, causes diabetes. During pregnancy beta cells undergo several changes to adapt to the higher insulin demands. By analysing the expression of genes in beta cells during pregnancy we observed that beta cells strongly increase the production of serotonin. This increase is explained by strong upregulation of the enzymes of serotonin biosynthesis. Placental lactogen reproduces these effects in vitro. Prolactin receptors seem responsible as placental lactogen tranduces its signal via this receptor, but the downstream signalling mechanism is not known. Moreover, although serotonin was recently proposed as an amplifier of glucose-induced insulin release, the functional role of serotonin produced in beta cells of pregnant mice is unknown. In this project we will examine the mechanism of serotonin production and the functional implications of this process.
Date:3 Jan 2010 →  28 Feb 2013
Keywords:Beta cell serotonin
Disciplines:Genetics, Systems biology, Molecular and cell biology