Cilia on pancreatic beta cells make nerve synapse-like connections with each other and with other cells
Sticking out into the unknown like radio masts pointing towards the night sky (although ~100 million times smaller), primary cilia send and receive chemical signals within the dark world of microscopic life. Nearly all our cells have them. So too, do mice – and we can learn a great deal from this mouse cilium, rendered in 3D here (in blue) based on data from focussed ion beam microscopy. Poking out from a beta cell into the islet tissue of the mouse’s pancreas, cilia are often vital to transporting chemicals from cell to cell, but they may have another role. Researchers discovered synapses similar to those found in the nervous system connecting to the cilia. As beta cells are essential to controlling insulin levels in the blood, the cilia may help us understand the role of the nervous system in the control and treatment of diabetes.
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