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Previous Volume 350:1817-1818 April 29, 2004 Number 18 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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Pancreatic beta cells, the insulin-releasing cells of the islets of Langerhans, are electrically excitable cells. They sense fluctuations in the plasma glucose concentration and convert the signal into a change in electrical activity that modulates insulin secretion. Mutations affecting the molecular machinery underlying this conversion are prime suspects in the causation of diabetes mellitus, in which an increase in the plasma glucose level is not adequately matched by increased insulin secretion. At the heart of the mechanism that changes the metabolic signal into an electrical one lies the ATP-sensitive potassium channel (K_ATP channel); polymorphisms in this channel have recently been . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Source Information

From the Department of Clinical Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Lin, C.-W., Lin, Y.-W., Yan, F.-F., Casey, J., Kochhar, M., Pratt, E. B., Shyng, S.-L. (2006). Kir6.2 Mutations Associated With Neonatal Diabetes Reduce Expression of ATP-Sensitive K+ channels: Implications in Disease Mechanism and Sulfonylurea Therapy. Diabetes 55: 1738-1746 [Abstract] [Full Text]