GABAA Receptor-Mediated Currents and Hormone mRNAs in Cells Expressing More Than One Hormone Transcript in Intact Human Pancreatic Islets

In pancreatic islets, the major cell-types are α, β and δ cells. The γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) signalling system is expressed in human pancreatic islets. In single hormone transcript-expressing cells, we have previously characterized the functional properties of islet GABAA receptors (iGABAARs). Here, we extended these studies to islet cells expressing mRNAs for more than one hormone and sought for correlation between iGABAAR activity level and relative mRNA expression ratio. The single-cell RT-PCR in combination with the patch-clamp current recordings was used to examine functional properties of iGABAARs in the multiple hormone mRNA-expressing cells. We detected cells expressing double (α/β, α/δ, β/δ cell-types) and triple (α/β/δ cell-type) hormone transcripts. The most common mixed-identity cell-type was the α/β group where the cells could be grouped into β- and α-like subgroups. The β-like cells had low GCG/INS expression ratio ( 1.2). The hormone expression levels and iGABAAR single-channel characteristics varied in the α/β/δ cell-type. Clearly, multiple hormone transcripts can be expressed in islet cells whereas iGABAAR single-channel functional properties appear to be α or β cell specific.