Pancreatic islet β cells secrete insulin in response to nutrient secretagogues, like glucose, dependent on calcium influx and nutrient metabolism. One of the most intriguing qualities of β cells is their ability to use metabolism to amplify the amount of secreted insulin independent of further alterations in intracellular calcium. Many years studying this amplifying process have shaped our current understanding of β cell stimulus-secretion coupling; yet, the exact mechanisms of amplification have been elusive. Recent studies utilizing metabolomics, computational modeling, and animal models have progressed our understanding of the metabolic amplifying pathway of insulin secretion from the β cell. New approaches will be discussed which offer in-roads to a more complete model of β cell function. The development of β cell therapeutics may be aided by such a model, facilitating the targeting of aspects of the metabolic amplifying pathway which are unique to the β cell.

胰岛β细胞响应于营养素促分泌剂（如葡萄糖）分泌胰岛素，这取决于钙的流入量和营养素的代谢。β细胞最令人着迷的特性之一是它们利用新陈代谢来放大分泌的胰岛素的量的能力，而与细胞内钙的进一步改变无关。多年研究这种扩增过程已经塑造了我们目前对β细胞刺激-分泌偶联的理解；然而，确切的扩增机制还难以捉摸。最近利用代谢组学，计算模型和动物模型进行的研究使我们对β细胞分泌胰岛素的代谢放大途径有了更深入的了解。将讨论新方法，这些方法可为建立更完整的β细胞功能模型提供帮助。