Electrophysiology of the pancreatic islet β-cell sweet taste receptor TIR3

Over recent years, the presence of the sweet taste receptor TIR3 in rodent and human insulin-producing pancreatic islet β-cells was documented. The activation of this receptor by sweet-tasting sucralose mimics several biochemical and functional effects of D-glucose in the β-cells. The present study extends this analogy to the bioelectrical response of β-cells. In this respect, sucralose was inefficient in the absence of D-glucose, but induced on occasion electrical activity in mouse β-cells exposed to low non-stimulatory concentrations of the hexose and potentiated, in a concentration-related manner, the response to stimulatory concentrations of D-glucose. These data indicate that sucralose, acting as an agonist of the TIR3 receptor, exerts an excitatory effect upon pancreatic β-cell bioelectrical activity.