ArticleNature medicine2011
Alpha cells secrete acetylcholine as a non-neuronal paracrine signal priming beta cell function in humans.
Article in Nature medicine, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 171 papers.
What it found
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
171 citing papers in PubMed, 299 citations in OpenAlex.
- Contribution of parasympathetic muscarinic augmentation of insulin secretion to olanzapine-induced hyperinsulinemia.American journal of physiology. Endocrinology and metabolism · 2018Trial
- Modulation of Autoimmune T-Cell Memory by Stem Cell Educator Therapy: Phase 1/2 Clinical Trial.EBioMedicine · 2015Trial
- Structural and functional impact of cystic fibrosis on endocrine pancreatic innervation.Clinical science (London, England : 1979) · 2026Article
- Stoichiometry-Defined Phase Selection and Hydrophobic Molecular Sealing in Bioderived Deep Eutectic Solvents.ACS materials Au · 2026Article
- Article
- A distinct vagus-beta cell neural circuit senses glucose and modulates insulin secretion.Molecular metabolism · 2026Article
- Review
- Review
- Localized GLP1 receptor pre-internalization directs pancreatic alpha cell to beta cell communication.Cell metabolism · 2025Article
- The Role of Xenobiotics and Anelloviruses in Colorectal Cancer: Mechanisms and Perspectives.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Production of Acetylcholine by Podocytes and its Protection from Kidney Injury in GN.Journal of the American Society of Nephrology : JASN · 2025Article
- Pancreatic organogenesis mapped through space and time.Experimental & molecular medicine · 2025Article
- Biphasic glucose-stimulated insulin secretion over decades: a journey from measurements and modeling to mechanistic insights.Life metabolism · 2025Review
- Effects of cholinergic antagonists on ghrelin release and expression in the crop, proventriculus, and duodenum of newly hatched chickens.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- Nicotinic Signaling Stimulates Glucagon Secretion in Mouse and Human Pancreatic α-Cells.Diabetes · 2025Article
- Review
- Regulated and adaptive in vivo insulin secretion from islets only containing β-cells.Nature metabolism · 2024Article
- Optogenetic stimulation of vagal nerves for enhanced glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and β cell proliferation.Nature biomedical engineering · 2024Article
- Illuminating the complete ß-cell mass of the human pancreas- signifying a new view on the islets of Langerhans.Nature communications · 2024Article
- The Importance of Intra-Islet Communication in the Function and Plasticity of the Islets of Langerhans during Health and Diabetes.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
111 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter that has a major role in the function of the insulin-secreting pancreatic beta cell. Parasympathetic innervation of the endocrine pancreas, the islets of Langerhans, has been shown to provide cholinergic input to the beta cell in several species, but the role of autonomic innervation in human beta cell function is at present unclear. Here we show that, in contrast to the case in mouse islets, cholinergic innervation of human islets is sparse. Instead, we find that the alpha cells of human islets provide paracrine cholinergic input to surrounding endocrine cells. Human alpha cells express the vesicular acetylcholine transporter and release acetylcholine when stimulated with kainate or a lowering in glucose concentration. Acetylcholine secretion by alpha cells in turn sensitizes the beta cell response to increases in glucose concentration. Our results demonstrate that in human islets acetylcholine is a paracrine signal that primes the beta cell to respond optimally to subsequent increases in glucose concentration. Cholinergic signaling within islets represents a potential therapeutic target in diabetes, highlighting the relevance of this advance to future drug development.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.