Impact of Extracellular Calcium Along With Ascorbic Acid on Cellular Reactivation and Insulin Secretion in Diabetic Min6 Cells

Abstract

Diabetes is not a single disease but characterized by a group of syndromes. Oxidative stress and defects in insulin secretary pathway are the major problems associated with type 2 diabetes. Extracellular Ca 2+ influx is the major trigger which stimulates insulin secretion in pancreatic β cells. In this study we combined the most common antioxidant ascorbic acid with extracellular calcium to observe their cooperative effect on diabetic MIN6 cells. Our results demonstrated firstly the major role of ascorbic acid individually as well as with calcium in cell viability as compared to individual calcium supplementation. Secondly, the combined concentration of ascorbic acid and calcium leads to maximum increase in insulin level in dose dependent manner up to 5mM ascorbic acid and decrease beyond this concentration.