The pancreatic islet is a complex mini organ composed of a variety of endocrine cells and their support cells, which together tightly control blood glucose homeostasis. Changes in glucose concentration are commonly regarded as the chief signal controlling insulin-secreting beta cells, glucagon-secreting alpha cells and somatostatin-secreting delta cells. However, each of these cell types is highly responsive to a multitude of endocrine, paracrine, nutritional and neural inputs, which collectively shape the final endocrine output of the islet. Here, we review the principal inputs for each islet-cell type and the physiological circumstances in which these signals arise, through the prism of the insights generated by the transcriptomes of each of the major endocrine-cell types. A comprehensive integration of the factors that influence blood glucose homeostasis is essential to successfully improve therapeutic strategies for better diabetes management.

胰岛是一个复杂的微型器官，由多种内分泌细胞及其支持细胞组成，它们共同严格控制血糖稳态。葡萄糖浓度的变化通常被认为是控制分泌胰岛素的β细胞、分泌胰高血糖素的α细胞和分泌生长抑素的δ细胞的主要信号。然而，这些细胞类型中的每一种都对多种内分泌、旁分泌、营养和神经输入高度敏感，这些输入共同塑造了胰岛的最终内分泌输出。在这里，我们通过每种主要内分泌细胞类型的转录组产生的洞察力，回顾了每种胰岛细胞类型的主要输入以及这些信号出现的生理环境。