Figure 7.

Proposed model of Lira-induced β-cell regeneration. The islets displaying their physiological conditions are depleted from most β-cells when treated with streptozotocin, while the ductal part of the pancreas remains unaffected. We propose that liraglutide can induce a regeneration process in two steps. The first one, triggered at least 48 h after the treatment, consists in the transdifferentiation from mature α-cells into new insulin-expressing β-like cells. During the second step, while β-cell mass seems to be partially recovered, neo-islets formed by insulin-expressing β-like cells from CK19⁺ cells in the ductal part of the pancreas arise from the ducts.