Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have discovered that beta cells in the pancreas use taste receptors to sense fructose. According to the study, published online Feb. 6 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the beta cells respond to fructose by secreting insulin.

Using human and mouse pancreatic cells, Björn Tyrberg, PhD, and postdoctoral researchers George Kyriazis, PhD and Mangala Soundarapandian, PhD, found that fructose activates sweet taste receptors on beta cells. Together with glucose, fructose helps amplify insulin release.

 To substantiate this observation, the team took a look at cells genetically engineered to lack the taste receptor gene. Without the gene, fructose did not stimulate insulin release.

"These findings are interesting because we know that insulin affects blood glucose levels, indicating that these newly identified beta cell taste receptors might play a role in metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes," said Kyriazis, first author of the study. "We're now trying to understand how beta cell taste receptors are regulated and how their expression might differ between healthy and disease states. We're also now designing human studies to substantiate what we've found in mice."