Insulin-producing cells could not mimic the physiological regulation of insulin secretion performed by pancreatic beta cells

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare the difference between insulin-producing cells (IPCs) and normal human pancreatic beta cells both in physiological function and morphological features in cellular level. METHODS: The levels of insulin secretion were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The insulin gene expression was determined by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The morphological features were detected by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and laser confocal scanning microscopy. RESULTS: IPCs and normal human pancreatic beta cells were similar to each other under the observation in AFM with the porous structure features in the cytoplasm. Both number of membrane particle size and average roughness of normal human beta cells were higher than those of IPCs. CONCLUSIONS: Our results firstly revealed that the cellular ultrastructure of IPCs was closer to that of normal human pancreatic beta cells, but they still could not mimic the physiological regulation of insulin secretion performed by pancreatic beta cells.