Both electrical and metabolic coupling shape the collective multimodal activity and functional connectivity patterns in beta cell collectives: A computational model perspective

TL;DR

This study presents a computational model demonstrating how electrical and metabolic coupling in pancreatic beta cells coordinate their activity, influencing insulin secretion and network connectivity, aligning with experimental observations.

Contribution

The paper introduces a multicellular model combining electrical and metabolic interactions to explain beta cell synchronization and network formation.

Findings

Electrical coupling alone can synchronize beta cell responses.

Metabolic interactions enhance coordination and network connectivity.

Model results align with experimental data on beta cell activity.

Abstract

Pancreatic beta cells are coupled excitable oscillators that synchronize their activity via different communication pathways. Their oscillatory activity manifests itself on multiple timescales and consists of bursting electrical activity, subsequent oscillations in the intracellular Ca2+, as well as oscillations in metabolism and exocytosis. The coordination of the intricate activity on the multicellular level plays a key role in the regulation of physiological pulsatile insulin secretion and is incompletely understood. In this contribution, we investigate theoretically the principles that give rise to the synchronized activity of beta cell populations by building up a phenomenological multicellular model that incorporates the basic features of beta cell dynamics. Specifically, the model is composed of coupled slow and fast oscillatory units that reflect metabolic processes and electrical activity, respectively. Using a realistic description of the intercellular interactions, we study how the combination of electrical and metabolic coupling generates collective rhythmicity and shapes functional beta cell networks. It turns out that while electrical coupling solely can synchronize the responses, the addition of metabolic interactions further enhances coordination, the spatial range of interactions, increases the number of connections in the functional beta cell networks, and ensures a better consistency with experimental findings. Moreover, our computational results provide additional insights into the relationship between beta cell heterogeneity, their activity profiles, and functional connectivity, supplementing thereby recent experimental results on endocrine networks.