title: Chronology of endocrine differentiation and beta-cell neogenesis.
abstract: Diabetes is a chronic and incurable disease, which results from absolute or relative insulin insufficiency. Therefore, pancreatic beta cells, which are the only type of cell that expresses insulin, is considered to be a potential target for the cure of diabetes. Although the findings regarding beta-cell neogenesis during pancreas development have been exploited to induce insulin-producing cells from non-beta cells, there are still many hurdles towards generating fully functional beta cells that can produce high levels of insulin and respond to physiological signals. To overcome these problems, a solid understanding of pancreas development and beta-cell formation is required, and several mouse models have been developed to reveal the unique features of each endocrine cell type at distinct developmental time points. Here I review our understanding of pancreas development and endocrine differentiation focusing on recent progresses in improving temporal cell labeling in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Metabolism and Endocrinology, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miyatsuka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002455:Cell Division; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D004703:Endocrine System / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D000078790:Insulin Secretion; D050417:Insulin-Secreting Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D012038:Regeneration
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin