Sweet Tase Receptor Expressed in Pancreatic β-cells: PotentialTherapeutic Target

胰腺β细胞表达的甜味受体被包括葡萄糖和果糖在内的糖类激活。它也被各种甜味剂激活。我们发现，甜味剂与受体的不同部分结合，并产生不同的细胞内信使。在本研究中，我们检测了四种甜味剂，三氯蔗糖、安赛蜜K、糖精和甘草酸在β-细胞中的作用，并确定了哪种配体可以作为胰岛素分泌的刺激剂。结果表明，三氯蔗糖能有效地刺激胰岛素的分泌，并能保护β-细胞免于凋亡。

The sweet taste receptor expressed in pancreatic β-cells is activated by sugars including glucose and fructose. It is also activated by various sweeteners. We showed that sweeteners bind to different portion of the receptor and generate different sets of intracellular messengers. In the present study, we examined the effects of four sweeteners, sucralose, acesulfame K, saccharin and glycyrrhitin, in β-cells and determined which ligand is useful as a stimulant of insulin secretion. The results show that sucralose effectively stimulates insulin secretion and also protects β-cells from apoptosis.