Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Mar 26, 2024; 12(9): 1712-1713
Published online Mar 26, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i9.1712
Epinephrine also acts on beta cells and insulin secretion
Lina Zabuliene, Ioannis Ilias
Lina Zabuliene, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius LT-03101, Lithuania
Ioannis Ilias, Department of Endocrinology, “Hippokration” General Hospital, Athens GR-11527, Greece
Author contributions: Zabuliene L and Ilias I researched for this work; Zabuliene L and Ilias I wrote the manuscript. Both authors agree to this publication.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors report that they have no conflict of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ioannis Ilias, MD, PhD, Director, Department of Endocrinology, “Hippokration” General Hospital, No. 63 Evrou Street, Athens GR-11527, Greece. iiliasmd@yahoo.com
Received: October 18, 2023
Peer-review started: October 18, 2023
First decision: January 30, 2024
Revised: January 30, 2024
Accepted: March 4, 2024
Article in press: March 4, 2024
Published online: March 26, 2024
Processing time: 159 Days and 0.2 Hours
Abstract

In a recent review examining neurotransmitter modulation of insulin secretion, the significant impact of epinephrine was not addressed. Its primary action involves inhibiting insulin release via alpha-adrenergic receptors, thereby reducing the response to insulin secretion stimulators, through the activation of K+ channels and resulting in membrane hyperpolarization in beta cells.

Keywords: Epinephrine; Insulin; Islets; Glucose; Human

Core Tip: Among the neurotransmitters influencing insulin secretion, the role of epinephrine (EPI) might be underestimated. EPI mainly inhibits insulin release through alpha-adrenergic receptors, thereby attenuating the response to insulin secretion stimulators.