Abstract
The islets of Langerhans represent one of the many complex endocrine organs in mammals. Traditionally, islet function is studied by a mixture of physiological, cell biological, and molecular biological methods. Recently, novel techniques stemming from the ever-increasing toolbox provided by chemical laboratories have been added to the repertoire. Many emerging techniques will soon be available to manipulate and monitor islet function at the single-cell level and potentially in intact model animals, as well as in isolated human islets. Here, we review the most current small-molecule-based and genetically encoded molecular tool sets available to study islet function. We provide an outlook regarding future tool developments that will impact islet research, with a special focus on the interplay between different islet cell types. The islets of Langerhans represent one of the complex endocrine organs in mammals. Huey et al. review the small-molecule-based and genetically encoded molecular toolsets available to study islet function. We provide an outlook regarding future tool development with a special focus on the interplay between different islet cell types.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1015-1031 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Cell Chemical Biology |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 20 2020 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Medicine
- Molecular Biology
- Pharmacology
- Drug Discovery
- Clinical Biochemistry