Irina Kaverina, Ph.D., Xiadong Zhu, Ph.D., and colleagues began using pancreatic beta cells as a model to study microtubule function — to explore how microtubules “traffic” cargo such as insulin granules from the cell interior to the periphery.
In their initial studies, the researchers used compounds to destroy the microtubules, then stimulated the pancreatic islets with glucose and measured how much insulin was secreted. With the delivery highways missing, they expected to see a reduction in insulin secretion. Instead, they observed a strong increase in secretion.