Postnatal maturation of calcium signaling in islets of Langerhans from neonatal mice

Pancreatic islet cells develop mature physiological responses to glucose and other fuels postnatally. In this study, we used fluorescence imaging techniques to measure changes in intracellular calcium ([Ca(2+)](i)) to compare islets isolated from mice on postnatal days 0, 4, and 12 with islets from adult CD-1 mice. In addition, we used publicly available RNA-sequencing data to compare expression levels of key genes in β-cell physiology with [Ca(2+)](i) data across these ages. We show that islets isolated from mice on postnatal day 0 displayed elevated [Ca(2+)](i) in basal glucose (≤4mM) but lower [Ca(2+)](i) responses to stimulation by 12-20mM glucose compared to adult. Neonatal islets displayed more adult-like [Ca(2+)](i) in basal glucose by day 4 but continued to show lower [Ca(2+)](i) responses to 16 and 20mM glucose stimulation up to at least day 12. A right shift in glucose sensing (EC(50)) correlated with lower fragment-per-kilobase-of-transcript-per-million-reads-mapped (FPKM) of Slc2a2 (glut2) and Actn3 and increased FPKM for Galk1 and Nupr1. Differences in [Ca(2+)](i) responses to additional stimuli were also observed. Calcium levels in the endoplasmic reticulum were elevated on day 0 but became adult-like by day 4, which corresponded with reduced expression in Atp2a2 (SERCA2) and novel K+-channel Ktd17, increased expression of Pml, Wfs1, Thada, and Herpud1, and basal [Ca(2+)](i) maturing to adult levels. Ion-channel activity also matured rapidly, but RNA sequencing data mining did not yield strong leads. In conclusion, the maturation of islet [Ca(2+)](i) signaling is complex and multifaceted; several possible gene targets were identified that may participate in this process.