| Abstrakt: |
The taste, olfactory, and visual sensory systems support the reception and recognition of physical and chemical stimuli encountered in the environment. Expression of signal proteins involved in the taste, olfactory, and phototransduction systems has been detected in β cells in islets of Langerhans in the mammalian pancreas, which produce and secrete insulin. First identified in olfactory neurons, taste cells, and retinal rods and cones, sensory transduction cascade components carry out specific functions in the corresponding sensory cells. The roles of these molecules in β cell physiology remain controversial and their expression, unlike expression in specialized sensory cells, appears to be nonspecific and ectopic in nature. Data have now appeared indicating that signal proteins involved in sensory transduction may take part in regulating glucose-dependent insulin secretion in β cells. This review summarizes data on the expression and functional activities of sensory transduction elements in mammalian β cells and in model mouse, rat, and hamster insulinoma cell lines which retain the ability to synthesize and secrete insulin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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