Delta Cell Hyperplasia in Adult Goto-Kakizaki (GK/MolTac) Diabetic Rats

Figure 11

Hypothetical origin of delta cell hyperplasia. Schema was composed on the basis of [12, 13, 29] (see Section 4). (a) In nondiabetic animals, such as Wistar rats, SST-containing delta cells terminate proliferation after splitting from a common beta/delta cell progenitor while insulin-positive beta cells proliferate. (b) On the contrary, in diabetic Goto-Kakizaki rats, delta cells proliferation is not terminated, thus forming masses of SST positivity by the beta cell core mass. Origin of clonal proliferation of cells after splitting from the beta/delta cell progenitor can result from the known decreasing beta cell mass in Goto-Kakizaki PI, logically accompanied by the decrease of the beta cell-specifying factor Nkx6.1. A reduction of Nkx6.1 has been reported to increase neurogenin-3m, which in the absence of other factors promotes delta cells [29]. Common beta/delta progenitor cell: yellow, beta cells: red, and delta cells: green. The scheme was composed using Servier Powerpoint Image Bank: http://www.servier.com/.

(a)

(b)