Quantitative analysis of intra- and inter-individual variability of human beta-cell mass

Pancreatic beta-cell mass is a critical determinant of the progression of diabetes. The loss of beta-cells in various types of diabetes has been documented in comparison to age, sex and body mass index (BMI) matched control subjects. However, the underlying heterogeneity of beta-cell mass in healthy individuals has not been considered. In this study, the inter-individual heterogeneity in beta-cell/islet mass was examined among 10 cases of age-matched non-diabetic male subjects in relation to BMI, pancreas weight, and the percent ratio, volume and number of islets in the whole pancreas. Beta-cell/islet mass was measured using a large-scale unbiased quantification method. In contrast to previous studies, we found no clinically relevant correlation between beta-cell/islet mass and age, BMI or pancreas weight, with large differences in beta-cell/islet mass and islet number among the individuals. Our method extracts the comprehensive information out of individual pancreas providing multifaceted parameters to study the intrinsic heterogeneity of the human pancreas.