Pancreatic beta cells are important in blood glucose level regulation. As type 1 and 2 diabetes are getting prevalent worldwide, we need to explore new methods for early detection of beta cell-related afflictions. Using bioimaging techniques to measure beta cell mass is crucial because a decrease in beta cell density is seen in diseases such as diabetes and thus can be a new way of diagnosis for such diseases. We also need to appraise beta cell purity in transplanted islets for type 1 diabetes patients. Sufficient amount of functional beta cells must also be determined before being transplanted to the patients. In this review, indirect imaging of beta cells will be discussed. This includes membrane protein on pancreatic beta cells whereby specific probes are designed for different imaging modalities mainly magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography and fluorescence imaging. Direct imaging of insulin is also explored though probes synthesized for such function are relatively fewer. The path for successful pancreatic beta cell imaging is fraught with challenges like non-specific binding, lack of beta cell-restricted targets, the requirement of probes to cross multiple lipid layers to bind to intracellular insulin. Hence, there is an urgent need to develop new imaging techniques and innovative probing constructs in the entire imaging chain of bioengineering to provide early detection of beta cell-related pathology.

胰腺β细胞在血糖水平调节中很重要。随着 1 型和 2 型糖尿病在世界范围内越来越流行，我们需要探索早期检测与 β 细胞相关的疾病的新方法。使用生物成像技术测量 β 细胞质量至关重要，因为在糖尿病等疾病中可以观察到 β 细胞密度的降低，因此可以成为诊断此类疾病的新方法。我们还需要评估 1 型糖尿病患者移植胰岛中的 β 细胞纯度。在移植给患者之前，还必须确定足够数量的功能性β细胞。在这篇综述中，将讨论 β 细胞的间接成像。这包括胰腺β细胞上的膜蛋白，其中为不同的成像方式设计了特定的探针，主要是磁共振成像，正电子发射断层扫描和荧光成像。尽管针对这种功能合成的探针相对较少，但也探索了胰岛素的直接成像。胰腺 β 细胞成像的成功之路充满挑战，例如非特异性结合、缺乏 β 细胞限制性靶标、需要探针跨越多个脂质层以与细胞内胰岛素结合。因此，迫切需要在生物工程的整个成像链中开发新的成像技术和创新的探测结构，以提供 β 细胞相关病理的早期检测。缺乏β细胞限制性靶点，需要探针跨越多个脂质层以结合细胞内胰岛素。因此，迫切需要在生物工程的整个成像链中开发新的成像技术和创新的探测结构，以提供 β 细胞相关病理的早期检测。缺乏β细胞限制性靶点，需要探针跨越多个脂质层以结合细胞内胰岛素。因此，迫切需要在生物工程的整个成像链中开发新的成像技术和创新的探测结构，以提供 β 细胞相关病理的早期检测。