Measurement of Calcium Signaling in Beta-Cell Lines Using Epifluorescence and Confocal Microscopy.

One of the main consequences of glucose action on pancreatic β-cells is the stimulation of Ca entry as well as Ca release from intracellular compartments. Therefore, one of the cornerstones of any diabetes research laboratory should be the ability to measure changes in intracellular calcium concentrations within pancreatic β-cells. There are a variety of methods available for the measurement of intracellular calcium, from multiple regions of interest (ROIs) within single cells to observe oscillating calcium, to population-based 96-well applications to enable high-throughput screening of the effects of novel agonists. These methods allow calcium signaling to be observed in a single cellular assay to look at oscillations at a cellular level, to view a population response, and to enable high-throughput assays where the mean reflects a single cell response.