< Back to previous page

Project

Why do mouse beta cells produce serotonin during pregnancy?

Pancreatic beta cells are unique in that only they can release insulin, a crucial hormone for blood glucose homeostasis. Furthermore, the rate of insulin release is tightly regulated to the metabolic need. Failure of this 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 of the mother, which support the development and growth of the foetus. By analysing the expression of genes in beta cells during pregnancy we observed that only a subset of beta cells strongly increases the production of serotonin, a monoamine known to play a role in intestine and brain. This remarkable heterogeneity of function is explained by strong upregulation of the enzymes of serotonin biosynthesis in a minority of the beta cell population. Moreover, the serotonin production pathway is also artificially activated in beta cells (also in males) of several non-pregnant genetically modified mice models. However, the functional role of serotonin produced in beta cells is still under debate and forms the basis of our project.

Date:1 Jan 2016 →  31 Mar 2020
Keywords:mouse beta cells, serotonin, pregnancy
Disciplines:Genetics, Systems biology, Molecular and cell biology