Endocrine Abstracts

Beta-cell hyperplasia is an important adaptive mechanisms to maintain normoglycemia during physiological growth and in obesity. Increasing evidence suggests that the β-cell mass is dynamic and that increase demands on insulin secretion in insulin resistance and pregnancy can lead to rapid and marked changes in the β-cell mass. The mass of β-cells is governed by the balance of ß cell growth (replication) and by β-cell death (apoptosis). The molecular ba...