An Investigation of Small Worldness in Pancreatic Islets

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dc.contributor.authorFalgout, Elise
dc.contributor.authorFrett, Destiny
dc.contributor.authorNeil, Lorenzo
dc.contributor.authorSchumm, Ryan
dc.contributor.authorPatwardhan, Janita
dc.contributor.authorPeercy, Brad
dc.contributor.authorSherman, Arthur
dc.date.accessioned2018-09-18T17:55:06Z
dc.date.available2018-09-18T17:55:06Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.description.abstractDiabetes occurs when the body’s blood sugar levels are in a state of sustained elevation. The pancreatic beta cells, organized in the islets of Langerhans, secrete a hormone called insulin that is responsible for maintaining blood glucose at appropriate levels. Oscillations in insulin levels, which are thought to require synchronization in insulin secretion, are necessary for proper regulation of glucose. A loss of this periodic behavior has been observed in type 2 diabetic patients. We used the Single Slow Channel Model to compute the calcium and electrical dynamics during insulin secretion of a single beta cell. To replicate an islet, we coupled the cell cluster according to a hexagonal-close-packed lattice. The existence of small worldness in the islet and its effect on islet performance was investigated by using methods from graph theory. To quantify the performance, we sampled and chose a synchronization index from previously used indexes that reflects to what degree the calcium oscillations are in phase. The effect small worldness has on synchronization is indicative of the existence of hub cells, which have a larger influence on the rhythm of the islet. By destroying hub cells, we noticed that the synchronization of the islet decreased, which affects the overall performance of the islet. Understanding the role of hub cells will give us further insight on synchronization of insulin secretion between pancreatic beta cells.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThese results were obtained as part of the REU Site: Interdisciplinary Program in High Performance Computing (hpcreu.umbc.edu) in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) in Summer 2017. This program is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Department of Defense (DOD), with additional support from UMBC, the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, the Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Consulting (CIRC), and the UMBC High Performance Computing Facility (HPCF). HPCF is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation through the MRI program (grant nos. CNS–0821258 and CNS–1228778) and the SCREMS program (grant no. DMS–0821311), with additional substantial support from UMBC. Co-author Lorenzo Neil was supported, in part, by the UMBC National Security Agency (NSA) Scholars Program through a contract with the NSA. Graduate assistant Janita Patwardhan was supported by UMBC.en_US
dc.description.urihttps://userpages.umbc.edu/~gobbert/papers/REU2017Team4.pdfen_US
dc.format.extent18 pagesen_US
dc.genreTechnical Reporten_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/M2BG2HD98
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/11307
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Department Collection
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Student Collection
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Faculty Collection
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Mathematics and Statistics Department
dc.relation.ispartofseriesHPCF Technical Report HPCF-2017-14;
dc.rightsThis item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is made available by UMBC for non-commercial research and education. For permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the author.
dc.subjectdiabetesen_US
dc.subjectpancreasen_US
dc.subjectUMBC High Performance Computing Facility (HPCF)en_US
dc.subjectregulation of glucose
dc.subjectSingle Slow Channel Model
dc.subjectcalcium and electrical dynamics during insulin secretion of a single beta cell
dc.subjecthub cells
dc.subjectsynchronization of insulin secretion between pancreatic beta cells.
dc.titleAn Investigation of Small Worldness in Pancreatic Isletsen_US
dc.typeTexten_US

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