Signaling and Architectural Cues Necessary for 3D Diabetic Tissue Models

Diabetes mellitus is an overarching term for a group of metabolic diseases defined by high blood glucose levels caused by deficiencies in either insulin secretion or insulin action, or a combination of both. With the high risk of diabetic health-related problems and an increasing amount of diabetic cases reported, human in vitro tissue models of the disease pathology are needed to improve relevance to the human situation. In the drug-development process, they can be used to test new compounds that have not historically been used for the treatment of diabetes. To create diabetic tissue models in vitro of each organ system, healthy physiology must first be recapitulated as a baseline. Organogenesis is highly regulated by many distinct cues to ensure that each cell type has proper intracellular and intercellular signaling. Proper architectural cues are also very important since the extracellular matrix (ECM) transmits signals to the cytoskeleton through integrins that initiate signaling cascades that affect the genetic expression.