Stem Cells Finally Found in Pancreas

For this study, Heimberg and his colleagues cut off the duct that drains digestive enzymes from the pancreas in mice. Within two weeks, the number of beta cells in the pancreas doubled.

Not only did the number of beta cells increase, the mice started producing more insulin.

"When damaged a specific way, it triggered stem cells" production, Dominguez-Bendala said.

The newly identified stem cells were almost identical to embryonic beta cell progenitors. In fact, the gene Neurogenin 3 (Ngn3), which plays a role in embryonic development of the pancreas, is also involved in the formation of these new beta cells, the researchers said.

"This is a model of regeneration no one has tested before," Dominguez-Bendala said. "From a basic science point of view, it's very exciting. It opens the door to potential therapies. If we could trigger regeneration, that would be fantastic."

"This demonstrates a stem cell repair mechanism in the pancreas that, if we understand it more, then we can help develop more cures with either transplantation or with drugs that can increase the body's own stem cells and beta cells," said Paul Sanberg, director of the University of South Florida Center for Aging and Brain Repair in Tampa.

More information

For more on pancreatic islet transplantation, visit the U.S. National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse.

SOURCES: Juan Dominguez-Bendala, Ph.D., director, Stem Cell Development for Translational Research, Diabetes Research Institute, and assistant professor, surgery, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami; Harry Heimberg, Ph.D., associate professor, Diabetes Research Center, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium; Paul Sanberg, Ph.D., D.Sc., distinguished professor, neurosurgery, and director, University of South Florida Center for Aging and Brain Repair, Tampa; Jan. 25, 2008,Cell