Mathematical Biology Seminar
Artie Sherman
Wednesday April 9, 2008
3:05pm in LCB 225
"The Dual Oscillator Model for
Calcium and Metabolism in Pancreatic Beta Cells"
"
Abstract:
The dual oscillator model describes the metabolic and electrical
oscillations that combine to drive insulin secretion from the
beta-cells
of the pancreatic islets of Langerhans. The metabolic and electrical
subsystems are each postulated to be able to oscillate independently
but
also to interact with each other. A heuristic diagrammatic reduced
model has been developed for pedagogical purposes but has turned out
to
be useful for predicting behaviors of the full mathematical model.
The
heuristic model treats each of the two oscillators as a relaxation
oscillator, with silent, oscillatory, and fully on modes and
thresholds
for transitioning between the modes that are dependent on the glucose
concentration applied to an islet. Depending on the relative
positions
of the thresholds of the two, a variety of patterns of behavior can be
obtained, essentially all of which are found experimentally.
Conversely, most of the observed patterns correspond to some such
arrangement.
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Mathematical Biology Program
Department of Mathematics
University of Utah
155 South 1400 East Room 233
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
rasmusse@math.utah.edu
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