Glucose Toxicity in β-Cells: Type 2 Diabetes, Good Radicals Gone Bad, and the Glutathione Connection

Chronic exposure to hyperglycemia can lead to cellular dysfunction that may become irreversible over time, a process that is termed glucose toxicity. Our perspective about glucose toxicity as it pertains to the pancreatic beta-cell is that the characteristic decreases in insulin synthesis and secretion are caused by decreased insulin gene expression. The responsible metabolic lesion appears to involve a posttranscriptional defect in pancreas duodenum homeobox-1 (PDX-1) mRNA maturation. PDX-1 is a critically important transcription factor for the insulin promoter, is absent in glucotoxic islets, and, when transfected into glucotoxic beta-cells, improves insulin promoter activity. Because reactive oxygen species…

• NI
  National Institutes of Health
• NI
  National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases