The Open Endocrinology Journal

2010, 4 : 66-77
Published online 2010 November 1. DOI: 10.2174/1874216501004010066
Publisher ID: TOEJ-4-66

High Fat Diet Regulation of β -Cell Proliferation and β -Cell Mass

M.L. Golson , A. Ackermann Misfeldt , U.G. Kopsombut , C.P. Petersen and M. Gannon
Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, TN 37232, USA

ABSTRACT

Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) is characterized by relative insulin insufficiency, caused when peripheral tissues such as liver, muscle, and adipocytes have a decreased response to insulin. One factor that elevates the risk for insulin resistance and T2D is obesity. In obese patients without T2D and initially in people who develop T2D, pancreatic β-cells are able to compensate for insulin resistance by increasing β-cell mass, effected by increased proliferation and hypertrophy, as well as increased insulin secretion per β-cell. In patients that go on to develop T2D, however, this initial period of compensation is followed by β-cell failure due to decreased proliferation and increased apoptosis. The forkhead box transcription factor FoxM1 is required for β-cell replication in mice after four weeks of age, during pregnancy, and after partial pancreatectomy. We investigated whether it is also required for β-cell proliferation due to diet-induced obesity.