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Review
. 2008 Jun;7(6):474-5.
doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2008.05.003.

Pancreatic islet alpha cell commands itself: secrete more glucagon!

Herbert Y Gaisano  1 , Yuk M Leung
Affiliations
Free article
Review

Pancreatic islet alpha cell commands itself: secrete more glucagon!

Herbert Y Gaisano et al. Cell Metab. 2008 Jun.
Free article

Abstract

Glucagon release by pancreatic alpha cells is stimulated by low glucose through unclear mechanisms. In this issue of Cell Metabolism, Cabrera et al. (2008) show that glutamate released from alpha cells acts on glutamate receptors in a positive autocrine fashion that drives glucagon secretion during small physiological fluctuations of blood glucose.

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  • Glutamate is a positive autocrine signal for glucagon release.
    Cabrera O, Jacques-Silva MC, Speier S, Yang SN, Köhler M, Fachado A, Vieira E, Zierath JR, Kibbey R, Berman DM, Kenyon NS, Ricordi C, Caicedo A, Berggren PO. Cabrera O, et al. Cell Metab. 2008 Jun;7(6):545-54. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2008.03.004. Cell Metab. 2008. PMID: 18522835 Free PMC article.

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