Epac is a cAMP-activated guanine nucleotide exchange factor that mediates cAMP signaling in various types of cells, including -cells, where it is involved in the control of insulin secretion. Upon activation, the protein redistributes to the plasma membrane, but the underlying molecular mechanisms and functional consequences are unclear. Using quantitative high-resolution microscopy, we found that cAMP elevation caused rapid binding of Epac2A to the -cell plasma membrane, where it accumulated specifically at secretory granules and rendered them more prone to undergo exocytosis. cAMP-dependent membrane binding required the high-affinity cyclic nucleotide-binding (CNB) and Ras association domains, but not the disheveled-Egl-10-pleckstrin domain. Although the N-terminal low-affinity CNB domain (CNB-A) was dispensable for the translocation to the membrane, it was critical for directing Epac2A to the granule sites. Epac1, which lacks the CNB-A domain, was recruited to the plasma membrane but did not accumulate at granules. We conclude that Epac2A controls secretory granule release by binding to the exocytosis machinery, an effect that is enhanced by prior cAMP-dependent accumulation of the protein at the plasma membrane.
Hormones and neurotransmitters are released when secretory granules or synaptic vesicles fuse with the cell membrane, a process denoted exocytosis. Modern imaging techniques, in particular total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy, allow the investigator to monitor secretory granules at the plasma membrane before and when they undergo exocytosis. However, rigorous statistical approaches for temporal analysis of such exocytosis data are still lacking. We propose here that statistical methods from time-to-event (also known as survival) analysis are well suited for the problem. These methods are typically used in clinical settings when individuals are followed over time to the occurrence of an event such as death, remission or conception. We model the rate of exocytosis in response to pulses of stimuli in insulin-secreting pancreatic beta-cell from healthy and diabetic human donors using piecewise-constant hazard modeling. To study heterogeneity in the granule population we exploit frailty modeling, which describe unobserved differences in the propensity to exocytosis. In particular, we insert a discrete frailty in our statistical model to account for the higher rate of exocytosis in an immediately releasable pool (IRP) of insulin-containing granules. Estimates of parameters are obtained from maximum-likelihood methods. Since granules within the same cell are correlated, i.e., the data are clustered, a modified likelihood function is used for log-likelihood ratio tests in order to perform valid inference. Our approach allows us for example to estimate the size of the IRP in the cells, and we find that the IRP is deficient in diabetic cells. This novel application of time-to-event analysis and frailty modeling should be useful also for the study of other well-defined temporal events at the cellular level.
Pancreatic beta-cells secrete insulin in response to increase in blood glucose concentration with a rapid first phase and slower, sustained second phase. This secretion pattern is similar in entire pancreas, isolated islets of Langerhans and single beta-cells and it is disrupted in type 2-diabetes. Insulin stored in secretory vesicles has to undergo preparatory steps upon translocation to the plasma membrane which include docking and priming before being released by exocytosis. A better understanding of the molecules involved in these steps is required to determine the rate limiting factors for sustained secretion. Here these processes were studied in real time using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy, which enables observation of insulin granules localized at the plasma membrane. A pool of granules morphologically docked at the plasma membrane was found to be depleted upon repeated stimulations. Recovery of the docked pool of granules took tens of minutes and became rate limiting for sustained secretion. Shorter depolarization stimuli did not deplete the docked pool and allowed rapid recovery of releasable granules. When a new granule arrived at the plasma membrane, docking was initiated by de novo formation of syntaxin/munc18 clusters at the docking site. Two-thirds of the granules which arrived at the plasma membrane failed to recruit these proteins and hence failed to dock. Priming involved recruitment of several other proteins including munc13, SNAP25 and Cav1.2 channels. Exocytosing granules were in close proximity to Ca2+ influx sites with high degree of association with Cav1.2 channels. This is because of the association of these channels to exocytosis site through syntaxin and SNAP25. During exocytosis the assembled release machinery disintegrated and the proteins at the release site dispersed. Syntaxin dispersal was initiated already during fusion pore formation rather than after release during exocytosis. This was studied using a newly developed red fluorescent probe - NPY-tdmOrange2 which was the most reliable pH sensitive red granule marker to label insulin granules. Overall these data give new insights into the molecular mechanisms involved in biphasic insulin secretion. Disturbances in the secretion at the level of granule docking and fusion may contribute to the early manifestations of type-2 diabetes.
Docking of secretory vesicles at the plasma membrane is a poorly understood prerequisite for exocytosis. Current models propose raft-like clusters containing syntaxin as docking receptor, but direct evidence for this is lacking. Here we provide quantitative measurements of several exocytosis proteins (syntaxin, SNAP25, munc18, munc13 and rab3) at the insulin granule release site and show that docking coincides with rapid de novo formation of syntaxin1/munc18 clusters at the nascent docking site. Formation of such clusters prevents undocking and is not observed during failed docking attempts. Overexpression of syntaxins' N-terminal Habc-domain competitively interferes with both cluster formation and successful docking. SNAP25 and munc13 are recruited to the docking site more than a minute later, consistent with munc13's reported role in granule priming rather than docking. We conclude that secretory vesicles dock by inducing syntaxin1/munc18 clustering in the target membrane, and find no evidence for preformed docking receptors.
Endocrine pancreas regulates glucose homeostasis and prevents diabetes. Type-1 diabetes is characterized by destruction of the insulin secreting beta-cells within the endocrine pancreatic islets, resulting in lower insulin release. People with type-1 diabetes can be transplanted with pancreatic islets obtained from deceased donors which restores the beta-cell function. There are around 70 human islet isolation centers around the world which mostly collect endocrine pancreas from deceased donors. They assess the islet yield, functionality, viability, secretory capacity, and purity for transplantation and distribute this to donors. They also distribute a part of the pancreatic tissue for research, so that the cellular mechanisms in the human pancreatic tissue can be understood. This is crucial since human islet tissue has a unique cytoarchitecture compared to murine counterparts and therefore islet research with murine islets does not give complete picture of diabetes in humans. India is poised to take the mantle of the diabetes capital of the world in the near future. Despite this, there are no human islet isolation centers which can facilitate islet transplantation and diabetes research in India. This article highlights the glaring gap in the current infrastructure for diabetes care and provides critical insights into the role and potential of setting up islet tissue banks in the most populous country of the world.
Fluorescent proteins (FPs) have proven to be valuable tools for high-resolution imaging studies of vesicle transport processes, including exo- and endocytosis. Since the pH of the vesicle lumen changes between acidic and neutral during these events, pH-sensitive FPs with near neutral pKa, such as pHluorin, are particularly useful. FPs with pKa>6 are readily available in the green spectrum, while red-emitting pH-sensitive FPs are rare and often not well characterized as reporters of exo- or endocytosis. Here we tested a panel of ten orange/red and two green FPs in fusions with neuropeptide Y (NPY) for use as secreted vesicle marker and reporter of dense core granule exocytosis and release. We report relative brightness, bleaching rate, targeting accuracy, sensitivity to vesicle pH, and their performance in detecting exocytosis in live cells. Tandem dimer (td)-mOrange2 was identified as well-targeted, bright, slowly bleaching and pH-sensitive FP that performed similar to EGFP. Single exocytosis events were readily observed, which allowed measurements of fusion pore lifetime and the dynamics of the exocytosis protein syntaxin at the release site during membrane fusion and cargo release.
Glucose-stimulated insulin secretion is biphasic, with a rapid first phase and a slowly developing sustained second phase; both are disturbed in type 2 diabetes (T2D). Biphasic secretion results from vastly different release probabilities of individual insulin granules, but the morphological and molecular basis for this is unclear. Here, we show that human insulin secretion and exocytosis critically depend on the availability of membrane-docked granules and that T2D is associated with a strong reduction in granule docking. Glucose accelerated granule docking, and this effect was absent in T2D. Newly docked granules only slowly acquired release competence; this was regulated by major signaling pathways, but not glucose. Gene expression analysis indicated that key proteins involved in granule docking are downregulated in T2D, and overexpression of these proteins increased granule docking. The findings establish granule docking as an important glucose-dependent step in human insulin secretion that is dysregulated in T2D.
Loss of first-phase insulin secretion is an early sign of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D). Ca2+ entry through voltage-gated L-type Ca2+ channels triggers exocytosis of insulin-containing granules in pancreatic β cells and is required for the postprandial spike in insulin secretion. Using high-resolution microscopy, we have identified a subset of docked insulin granules in human β cells and rat-derived clonal insulin 1 (INS1) cells for which localized Ca2+ influx triggers exocytosis with high probability and minimal latency. This immediately releasable pool (IRP) of granules, identified both structurally and functionally, was absent in β cells from human T2D donors and in INS1 cells cultured in fatty acids that mimic the diabetic state. Upon arrival at the plasma membrane, IRP granules slowly associated with 15 to 20 L-type channels. We determined that recruitment depended on a direct interaction with the synaptic protein Munc13, because expression of the II-III loop of the channel, the C2 domain of Munc13-1, or of Munc13-1 with a mutated C2 domain all disrupted L-type channel clustering at granules and ablated fast exocytosis. Thus, rapid insulin secretion requires Munc13-mediated recruitment of L-type Ca2+ channels in close proximity to insulin granules. Loss of this organization underlies disturbed insulin secretion kinetics in T2D.
Regulated exocytosis establishes a narrow fusion pore as initial aqueous connection to the extracellular space, through which small transmitter molecules such as ATP can exit. Co-release of polypeptides and hormones like insulin requires further expansion of the pore. There is evidence that pore expansion is regulated and can fail in diabetes and neurodegenerative disease. Here, we report that the cAMP-sensor Epac2 (Rap-GEF4) controls fusion pore behavior by acutely recruiting two pore-restricting proteins, amisyn and dynamin-1, to the exocytosis site in insulin-secreting beta-cells. cAMP elevation restricts and slows fusion pore expansion and peptide release, but not when Epac2 is inactivated pharmacologically or in Epac2(-/-) (Rapgef4(-/-)) mice. Consistently, overexpression of Epac2 impedes pore expansion. Widely used antidiabetic drugs (GLP-1 receptor agonists and sulfonylureas) activate this pathway and thereby paradoxically restrict hormone release. We conclude that Epac2/cAMP controls fusion pore expansion and thus the balance of hormone and transmitter release during insulin granule exocytosis.
In human pancreatic islets, the neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is an extracellular signaling molecule synthesized by and released from the insulin-secreting β cells. The effective, physiological GABA concentration range within human islets is unknown. Here we use native GABAA receptors in human islet β cells as biological sensors and reveal that 100-1000nM GABA elicit the maximal opening frequency of the single-channels. In saturating GABA, the channels desensitized and stopped working. GABA modulated insulin exocytosis and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. GABAA receptor currents were enhanced by the benzodiazepine diazepam, the anesthetic propofol and the incretin glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) but not affected by the hypnotic zolpidem. In type 2 diabetes (T2D) islets, single-channel analysis revealed higher GABA affinity of the receptors. The findings reveal unique GABAA receptors signaling in human islets β cells that is GABA concentration-dependent, differentially regulated by drugs, modulates insulin secretion and is altered in T2D.
Recent developments suggest that increased glucagon and decreased somatostatin secretion from the pancreas contribute to hyperglycaemia in type-2 diabetes (T2D) patients. There is a huge need to understand changes in glucagon and somatostatin secretion to develop potential anti-diabetic drugs. To further describe the role of somatostatin in the pathogenesis of T2D, reliable means to detect islet δ-cells and somatostatin secretion are necessary. In this study, we first tested currently available anti-somatostatin antibodies against a mouse model that fluorescently labels δ-cells. We found that these antibodies only label 10–15% of the fluorescently labelled δ-cells in pancreatic islets. We further tested six antibodies (newly developed) that can label both somatostatin 14 (SST14) and 28 (SST28) and found that four of them were able to detect above 70% of the fluorescent cells in the transgenic islets. This is quite efficient compared to the commercially available antibodies. Using one of these antibodies (SST10G5), we compared the cytoarchitecture of mouse and human pancreatic islets and found fewer δ-cells in the periphery of human islets. Interestingly, the δ-cell number was also reduced in islets from T2D donors compared to non-diabetic donors. Finally, with the aim to measure SST secretion from pancreatic islets, one of the candidate antibodies was used to develop a direct-ELISA-based SST assay. Using this novel assay, we could detect SST secretion under low and high glucose conditions from the pancreatic islets, both in mice and humans. Overall, using antibody-based tools provided by Mercodia AB, our study indicates reduced δ-cell numbers and SST secretion in diabetic islets.
Type 2 diabetes is triggered by reduced insulin production, caused by genetic and environmental factors such as inflammation originating from the innate immune system. Complement proteins are a component of innate immunity and kill non-self cells by perforating the plasma membrane, a reaction prevented by CD59. Human pancreatic islets express CD59 at very high levels. CD59 is primarily known as a plasma membrane protein in membrane rafts, but most CD59 protein in pancreatic β cells is intracellular. Removing extracellular CD59 disrupts membrane rafts and moderately stimulates insulin secretion, whereas silencing intracellular CD59 markedly suppresses regulated secretion by exocytosis, as demonstrated by TIRF imaging. CD59 interacts with the exocytotic proteins VAMP2 and Syntaxin-1. CD59 expression is reduced by glucose and in rodent diabetes models but upregulated in human diabetic islets, potentially reflecting compensatory reactions. This unconventional action of CD59 broadens the established view of innate immunity in type 2 diabetes.
Type-1-diabetes (T1D) is a multifactorial disorder with a global incidence of about 8.4 million individuals in 2021. It is primarily classified as an autoimmune disorder, where the pancreatic beta-cells are unable to secrete sufficient insulin. This leads to elevated blood glucose levels (hyperglycemia). The development of T1D is an intricate interplay between various risk factors, such as genetic, environmental, and cellular elements. In this review, we focus on the cellular elements, such as ER (endoplasmic reticulum) stress and its consequences for T1D pathogenesis. One of the major repercussions of ER stress is defective protein processing. A well-studied example is that of islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP), which is known to form cytotoxic amyloid plaques when misfolded. This review discusses the possible association between ER stress, IAPP, and amyloid formation in beta-cells and its consequences in T1D. Additionally, ER stress also leads to autoantigen generation. This is driven by the loss of Ca++ ion homeostasis. Imbalanced Ca++ levels lead to abnormal activation of enzymes, causing post-translational modification of beta-cell proteins. These modified proteins act as autoantigens and trigger the autoimmune response seen in T1D islets. Several of these autoantigens are also crucial for insulin granule biogenesis, processing, and release. Here, we explore the possible associations between ER stress leading to defects in insulin secretion and ultimately beta-cell destruction.
Insulin granule biogenesis involves transport to, and stable docking at, the plasma membrane before priming and fusion. Defects in this pathway result in impaired insulin secretion and are a hallmark of type 2 diabetes. We now show that the phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate phosphatase Sac2 localizes to insulin granules in a substrate-dependent manner and that loss of Sac2 results in impaired insulin secretion. Sac2 operates upstream of granule docking, since loss of Sac2 prevented granule tethering to the plasma membrane and resulted in both reduced granule density and number of exocytic events. Sac2 levels correlated positively with the number of docked granules and exocytic events in clonal beta cells and with insulin secretion in human pancreatic islets, and Sac2 expression was reduced in islets from type 2 diabetic subjects. Taken together, we identified a phosphoinositide switch on the surface on insulin granules that is required for stable granule docking at the plasma membrane and impaired in human type 2 diabetes.
Phosphoinositides (PtdIns) play important roles in exocytosis and are thought to regulate secretory granule docking by co-clustering with the SNARE protein syntaxin to form a docking receptor in the plasma membrane. Here we tested this idea by high-resolution total internal reflection imaging of EGFP-labeled PtdIns markers or syntaxin-1 at secretory granule release sites in live insulin-secreting cells. In intact cells, PtdIns markers distributed evenly across the plasma membrane with no preference for granule docking sites. In contrast, syntaxin-1 was found clustered in the plasma membrane, mostly beneath docked granules. We also observed rapid accumulation of syntaxin-1 at sites where granules arrived to dock. Acute depletion of plasma membrane phosphatidylinositol (4,5) bisphosphate (PtdIns(4,5)P-2) by recruitment of a 5-phosphatase strongly inhibited Ca2+-dependent exocytosis, but had no effect on docked granules or the distribution and clustering of syntaxin-1. Cell permeabilization by -toxin or formaldehyde-fixation caused PtdIns marker to slowly cluster, in part near docked granules. In summary, our data indicate that PtdIns(4,5)P-2 accelerates granule priming, but challenge a role of PtdIns in secretory granule docking or clustering of syntaxin-1 at the release site.
Glucagon is released from pancreatic α-cells to activate pathways that raise blood glucose. Its secretion is regulated by α-cell-intrinsic glucose sensing and paracrine control through insulin and somatostatin. To understand the inadequately high glucagon levels that contribute to hyperglycemia in type-2 diabetes (T2D), we analyzed granule behavior, exocytosis and membrane excitability in α-cells of 68 non-diabetic and 21 T2D human donors. We report that exocytosis is moderately reduced in α-cells of T2D donors, without changes in voltage-dependent ion currents or granule trafficking. Dispersed α-cells have a non-physiological V-shaped dose response to glucose, with maximal exocytosis at hyperglycemia. Within intact islets, hyperglycemia instead inhibits α-cell exocytosis, but not in T2D or when paracrine inhibition by insulin or somatostatin is blocked. Surface expression of somatostatin-receptor-2 is reduced in T2D, suggesting a mechanism for the observed somatostatin resistance. Thus, elevated glucagon in human T2D may reflect α-cell insensitivity to paracrine inhibition at hyperglycemia.
Circadian clocks operative in pancreatic islets participate in the regulation of insulin secretion in humans and, if compromised, in the development of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in rodents. Here we demonstrate that human islet alpha- and beta-cells that bear attenuated clocks exhibit strongly disrupted insulin and glucagon granule docking and exocytosis. To examine whether compromised clocks play a role in the pathogenesis of T2D in humans, we quantified parameters of molecular clocks operative in human T2D islets at population, single islet, and single islet cell levels. Strikingly, our experiments reveal that islets from T2D patients contain clocks with diminished circadian amplitudes and reduced in vitro synchronization capacity compared to their nondiabetic counterparts. Moreover, our data suggest that islet clocks orchestrate temporal profiles of insulin and glucagon secretion in a physiological context. This regulation was disrupted in T2D subjects, implying a role for the islet cell-autonomous clocks in T2D progression. Finally, Nobiletin, an agonist of the core-clock proteins ROR alpha/gamma, boosted both circadian amplitude of T2D islet clocks and insulin secretion by these islets. Our study emphasizes a link between the circadian clockwork and T2D and proposes that clock modulators hold promise as putative therapeutic agents for this frequent disorder.
MicroRNAs contribute to the maintenance of optimal cellular functions by fine-tuning protein expression levels. In the pancreatic beta-cells, imbalances in the exocytotic machinery components lead to impaired insulin secretion and type 2 diabetes (T2D). We hypothesize that dysregulated miRNA expression exacerbates beta-cell dysfunction, and have earlier shown that islets from the diabetic GK-rat model have increased expression of miRNAs, including miR-335-5p (miR-335). Here, we aim to determine the specific role of miR-335 during development of T2D, and the influence of this miRNA on glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and Ca2+-dependent exocytosis. We found that the expression of miR-335 negatively correlated with secretion index in human islets of individuals with prediabetes. Overexpression of miR-335 in human EndoC-beta H1 and in rat INS-1 832/13 cells (OE335) resulted in decreased glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, and OE335 cells showed concomitant reduction in three exocytotic proteins: SNAP25, Syntaxin-binding protein 1 (STXBP1), and synaptotagmin 11 (SYT11). Single-cell capacitance measurements, complemented with TIRF microscopy of the granule marker NPY-mEGFP demonstrated a significant reduction in exocytosis in OE335 cells. The reduction was not associated with defective docking or decreased Ca2+ current. More likely, it is a direct consequence of impaired priming of already docked granules. Earlier reports have proposed reduced granular priming as the cause of reduced first-phase insulin secretion during prediabetes. Here, we show a specific role of miR-335 in regulating insulin secretion during this transition period. Moreover, we can conclude that miR-335 has the capacity to modulate insulin secretion and Ca2+-dependent exocytosis through effects on granular priming.
Syntaxin (stx)-1 is an integral plasma membrane protein that is crucial for two distinct steps of regulated exocytosis, docking of secretory granules at the plasma membrane and membrane fusion. During docking, stx1 clusters at the granule docking site, together with the S/M protein munc18. Here we determined features of stx1 that contribute to its clustering at granules. In live insulin-secreting cells, stx1 and stx3 (but not stx4 or stx11) accumulated at docked granules, and stx1 (but not stx4) rescued docking in cells expressing botulinum neurotoxin-C. Using a series of stx1 deletion mutants and stx1/4 chimeras, we found that all four helical domains (Ha, Hb, Hc, SNARE) and the short N-terminal peptide contribute to recruitment to granules. However, only the Hc domain confers specificity, and it must be derived from stx1 for recruitment to occur. Point mutations in the Hc or the N-terminal peptide designed to interfere with binding to munc18-1 prevent stx1 from clustering at granules, and a mutant munc18 deficient in binding to stx1 does not cluster at granules. We conclude that stx1 is recruited to the docking site in a munc18-1-bound conformation, providing a rationale for the requirement for both proteins for granule docking.