Analysis of a stochastic model for a pancreatic beta-cell

Jacobo Aguirre

Dept. of Physics, Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain

Erik Mosekilde

Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark,
DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark

Abstract: The insulin is a basic hormone for humans as it regulates the concentration of glucose in blood. If this hormone is not secreted correctly in the pancreas one can suffer diabetes mellitus a very dangerous disease that eventually can cause death. Studying the behavior of insulin secreting beta-cells from an electrophysiological point of view we find that they present a silent regime alternating with an active regime where they show very characteristical burstings. However these burstings seem to be a collective behavior as can be only regarded experimentally in big clusters of cells. We have studied a stochastic model for the beta-cell in order to better understand this particular collective behavior.