Abstract
Human islets exhibit distinct islet architecture with intermingled alpha- and beta-cells particularly in large islets. In this study, we quantitatively examined pathological changes of the pancreas in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Specifically, we tested a hypothesis that changes in endocrine cell mass and composition are islet-size dependent. A large-scale analysis of cadaveric pancreatic sections from T2D patients (n = 12) and non-diabetic subjects (n = 14) was carried out combined with semi-automated analysis to quantify changes in islet architecture. The method provided the representative islet distribution in the whole pancreas section that allowed us to examine details of endocrine cell composition in individual islets. We observed a preferential loss of large islets (>60 µm in diameter) in T2D patients compared to non-diabetic subjects. Analysis of islet cell composition revealed that the beta-cell fraction in large islets was decreased in T2D patients. This change was accompanied by a reciprocal increase in alpha-cell fraction, however total alpha-cell area was decreased along with beta-cells in T2D. Delta-cell fraction and area remained unchanged. The computer-assisted quantification of morphological changes in islet structure minimizes sampling bias. Significant beta-cell loss was observed in large islets in T2D, in which alpha-cell ratio reciprocally increased. However, there was no alpha-cell expansion and the total alpha-cell area was also decreased. Changes in islet architecture were marked in large islets. Our method is widely applicable to various specimens using standard immunohistochemical analysis that may be particularly useful to study large animals including humans where large organ size precludes manual quantitation of organ morphology.
Highlights
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a metabolic disease caused by a relative lack of insulin- mediated control of glucose homeostasis
We have shown that such drastic morphological changes occur selectively in large islets (.50–100 mm in diameter) in humans, and similar changes are observed in mice under conditions of an increased demand for insulin such as pregnancy, obesity and diabetes [9,10]
The etiology of T2D implicates peripheral resistance to insulinmediated glucose uptake that results in an increased demand for insulin to control circulating glucose
Summary
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a metabolic disease caused by a relative lack of insulin- mediated control of glucose homeostasis. The gradual progression of T2D hampers determination of the precise onset of the disease. The diagnosis is currently only confirmed when a patient develops chronic hyperglycemia, which is recognized by the patient with various symptoms such as excessive thirst, frequent urination, fatigue, blurred vision, and weight loss. As the onset of T2D is poorly defined, this silent aspect of disease progression has been noted as one of the major obstacles for the treatment of T2D. Levetan et al have reported that 40% of hospitalized patients with T2D were undiagnosed [1]. It has been estimated that most patients with T2D are not diagnosed until ,10 years after the disease onset [2]
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