Diabetes: Dopamine regulates insulin secretion through a complex of receptors -- ScienceDaily
In a leap forward for diabetes research, Tokyo Tech researchers reveal that the 'feel-good hormone,' dopamine, regulates insulin secretion through a heteromeric complex of receptors, thereby providing new targets for antidiabetic medication and therapy. The study is the first to elucidate the mechanism behind dopamine's down-regulation of insulin secretion.
Diabetes is a lifelong, chronic health condition caused by abnormalities in the body's production and use of the hormone insulin. Research has shown that the feel-good hormone, dopamine (DA), plays a key role in how the body regulates the production of insulin. Typically, insulin is secreted by cells in the pancreas called 'beta-cells,' in response to glucose -- a process that is aptly called 'glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS). DA negatively regulates GSIS, leading to transient changes in the body's levels of insulins. But the mechanism behind this regulation was unknown, until now.
Recently, a team led by researchers from Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) uncovered the precise mechanism through which DA regulates insulin secretions. Using a technique called "total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy," they were able to reveal that DA "receptors" -- proteins on cells that DA can bind to -- called D1 and D2, act in concert to achieve the transient regulation of insulin.
