The Pancreatic B-Cell as a Voltage-Controlled Oscillator

We recorded the intracellular activity of pancreatic B-cells. The B-cells are the biological elements of the glucose control system. The action of glucose on the pancreatic B-cells take place in a two step-fashion: 1) concentrations lower than 6 mM glucose induces a progressive depolarization, 2) for higher concentrations the cells start to oscillate. This oscillation develops between two levels of potential that remain stable independently of the glucose concentration. The effect of increased glucose concentrations is transduced in terms of modulation of frequency of the oscillations rather than in a sustained depolarization. We stress the analogies between this control system and a voltage-controlled oscillator fed by a comparator.