Context

Pancreatic duct glands (PDGs) have been proposed as a source of regeneration in response to exocrine pancreas injury, and thus may serve as an organ stem cell niche. There is evidence to suggest ongoing β-cell formation in longstanding type 1 diabetes (T1D), but the source is unknown.

Objective

To investigate the PDG compartment of the pancreas in humans with T1D for evidence of an active regenerative signature (presence of progenitor cells and increased proliferation) and, in particular, as a potential source of β-cells.

Design, setting, and participants

Pancreases from 46 brain dead organ donors (22 with T1D, 24 nondiabetic controls) were investigated for activation (increased proliferation) and markers of pancreatic exocrine and endocrine progenitors.

Results

PDG cell replication was increased in T1D (6.3% ± 1.6% vs 0.6% ± 0.1%, P < 0.001, T1D vs nondiabetic), most prominently in association with pancreatic inflammation. There were increased progenitor-like cells in PDGs of T1D, but predominantly with an exocrine fate.

Conclusion

The PDG compartment is activated in T1D consistent with a response to ongoing inflammation, and via resulting ductal hyperplasia may contribute to local obstructive pancreatitis and eventual pancreatic atrophy characteristic of T1D. However, there is no evidence of effective endocrine cell formation from PDGs.

Aims/hypothesis

We sought to establish whether the increased incidence of diabetes associated with Down syndrome was due to a congenital deficit in β cells.

Methods

The pancreas was obtained at autopsy from nondiabetic subjects with Down syndrome (n = 29) and age-matched nondiabetic control subjects without Down syndrome (n = 28). The pancreas sections were evaluated for the fractional β-cell area.

Results

No difference was found in the fractional β-cell area between the subjects with Down syndrome and the control subjects.

Conclusions/interpretations

The increased incidence and prevalence of diabetes in individuals with Down syndrome is not due to an underlying congenital deficiency of β cells.

Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and immunofluorescence (IF) staining techniques are important diagnostic tools of anatomic pathology in the clinical setting and widely used analytical tools in research laboratories. In diabetes research, they are routinely used for the assessment of beta- and alpha-cell mass, for assessment of endocrine cell distribution within the pancreas, for evaluation of islet composition and islet morphology. Here, we present the evaluation of IHC techniques for the detection of alpha-cells in human pancreatic tissue. We compared the Horse Radish Peroxidase (HRP)-based method utilizing DAB Peroxidase Substrate to the Alkaline Phosphatase (AP)-based method utilizing Vector Red substrate. We conclude that HRP-DAB staining is a robust and reliable method for detection of alpha-cells using either rabbit polyclonal or mouse monoclonal anti-glucagon antibodies. However, AP-Vector Red staining should be used with caution, because it is affected by the dehydration with ethanol and toluene preceding the mounting of slides with Permount mounting medium. When AP-Vector Red is a preferable method for alpha-cell labeling, slides should be mounted using aqueous mounting medium or, alternatively, they could be air-dried before permanent mounting.

Continuation of historical trends in crop yield are critical to meeting the demands of a growing and more affluent world population. Climate change may compromise our ability to meet these demands, but estimates vary widely, highlighting the importance of understanding historical interactions between yield and climate trends. The relationship between temperature and yield is nuanced, involving differential yield outcomes to warm ([Formula: see text]C) and hot ([Formula: see text]C) temperatures and differing sensitivity across growth phases. Here, we use a crop model that resolves temperature responses according to magnitude and growth phase to show that US maize has benefited from weather shifts since 1981. Improvements are related to lengthening of the growing season and cooling of the hottest temperatures. Furthermore, current farmer cropping schedules are more beneficial in the climate of the last decade than they would have been in earlier decades, indicating statistically significant adaptation to a changing climate of 13 kg·ha^-1· decade^-1 All together, the better weather experienced by US maize accounts for 28% of the yield trends since 1981. Sustaining positive trends in yield depends on whether improvements in agricultural climate continue and the degree to which farmers adapt to future climates.

Objective

Obesity is a known risk factor for type 2 diabetes. However, most obese individuals do not develop diabetes because they adapt to insulin resistance by increasing beta-cell mass and insulin secretion. Islet pathology in type 2 diabetes is characterized by beta-cell loss, islet amyloid derived from islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP), and increased beta-cell apoptosis characterized by endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. We hypothesized that IAPP-induced ER stress distinguishes successful versus unsuccessful islet adaptation to insulin resistance.

Research design and methods

To address this, we fed wild-type (WT) and human IAPP transgenic (HIP) rats either 10 weeks of regular chow or a high-fat diet and prospectively examined the relations among beta-cell mass and turnover, beta-cell ER stress, insulin secretion, and insulin sensitivity.

Results

A high-fat diet led to comparable insulin resistance in WT and HIP rats. WT rats compensated with increased insulin secretion and beta-cell mass. In HIP rats, in contrast, neither beta-cell function nor mass compensated for the increased insulin demand, leading to diabetes. The failure to increase beta-cell mass in HIP rats was the result of ER stress-induced beta-cell apoptosis that increased in proportion to diet-induced insulin resistance.

Conclusions

IAPP-induced ER stress distinguishes the successful versus unsuccessful islet adaptation to a high-fat diet in rats. These studies are consistent with the hypothesis that IAPP oligomers contribute to increased beta-cell apoptosis and beta-cell failure in humans with type 2 diabetes.

Context and objective

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is characterized by a β-cell deficit due to autoimmune inflammatory-mediated β-cell destruction. It has been proposed the deficit in β-cell mass in T1D may be in part due to β-cell degranulation to chromogranin-positive, hormone-negative (CPHN) cells.

Design, setting, and participants

We investigated the frequency and distribution of CPHN cells in the pancreas of 15 individuals with T1D, 17 autoantibody-positive nondiabetic individuals, and 17 nondiabetic controls.

Results

CPHN cells were present at a low frequency in the pancreas from nondiabetic and autoantibody-positive, brain-dead organ donors but are more frequently found in the pancreas from donors with T1D (islets: 1.11% ± 0.20% vs 0.26% ± 0.06 vs 0.27% ± 0.10% of islet endocrine cells, T1D vs autoantibody positive [AA+] vs nondiabetic [ND]; T1D vs AA+, and ND, P < .001). CPHN cells are most commonly found in the single cells and small clusters of endocrine cells rather than within established islets (clusters: 18.99% ± 2.09% vs 9.67% ± 1.49% vs 7.42% ± 1.26% of clustered endocrine cells, T1D vs AA+ vs ND; T1D vs AA+ and ND, P < .0001), mimicking the distribution present in neonatal pancreas.

Conclusions

From these observations, we conclude that CPHN cells are more frequent in T1D and, as in type 2 diabetes, are distributed in a pattern comparable with the neonatal pancreas, implying a possible attempted regeneration. In contrast to rodents, CPHN cells are insufficient to account for loss of β-cell mass in T1D.

Aims/hypothesis

Islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) misfolding and toxic oligomers contribute to beta cell loss and stress in type 2 diabetes. Pregnancy-related diabetes predicts subsequent risk for type 2 diabetes but little is known about the impact of pregnancy on beta cell mass, turnover and stress. Availability of human pancreas tissue in pregnancy is limited and most widely used mouse models of type 2 diabetes do not develop pregnancy-related diabetes, possibly because rodent IAPP is not prone to form toxic oligomers. We hypothesised that mice transgenic for human IAPP (hIAPP) are prone to pregnancy-related diabetes with beta cell responses reflective of those in type 2 diabetes.

Methods

We evaluated the impact of a first and second pregnancy on glucose homeostasis, beta cell mass and turnover and markers of beta cell stress in hIAPP transgenic (hTG) mice.

Results

Pregnancy induced both endoplasmic reticulum stress and oxidative stress and compromised autophagy in beta cells in hTG mice, which are characteristic of beta cells in type 2 diabetes. Beta cell stress persisted after pregnancy, resulting in subsequent diabetes before or during a second pregnancy.

Conclusions/interpretation

High expression of hIAPP in response to pregnancy recapitulates mechanisms contributing to beta cell stress in type 2 diabetes. We hypothesise that, in individuals prone to type 2 diabetes, pregnancy-induced increased expression of IAPP inflicts beta cell damage that persists and is compounded by subsequent additive stress such as further pregnancy. The hTG mouse model is a novel model for pregnancy-related diabetes.