Fig 2. Alternative distributions in GK activity predicts small highly functional cells are dispensable for islet [Ca²⁺] dynamics.

A). Schematic of altered distributions of GK activity across simulated islet. B). Histogram showing average frequency of cells at varying GK rate (k_glc) for skewed distribution compared with normal distribution (25% St Dev). C). Representative time courses of [Ca²⁺] for 3 cells in simulated skewed islet in A. Blue traces are cells from GK^Low population and orange traces are cells from GK^High population. D). Fraction of cells showing elevated [Ca²⁺] activity (active cells) in skewed simulations vs. the percentage of cells hyperpolarized in islet. Hyperpolarized cells are chosen either from GK^High (orange bars) or GK^Low (blue bars) population. E). # of links from network analysis of [Ca²⁺] activity for simulations with skewed distribution of GK F). Schematic of simulation where only GK^Low cells are present and no GK^High cells are included. G). Representative time courses of [Ca²⁺] for 3 cells in simulated islet in F. H). Average duty cycle of cells from simulations of a skewed distribution model as in A (With GK^High) and from simulations as in F (Without GK^High). I). As in B. for bimodal distribution in GK activity where the populations only have 2.5% variation in GK activity. J). As in D. for bimodal distribution in GK activity. K). As in H. but for simulations with no GK^High from a bimodal distribution. Error bars are mean ± s.e.m. Student’s paired t-test was performed to test for significance. Significance values: ns indicates not significant (p>.05), * indicates significant difference (p < .05), ** indicates significant difference (p < .01), *** indicates significant difference (p < .001), **** indicates significant difference (p < .0001). Data representative of 4–9 simulations with differing random number seeds.