Peter Ronner, PhD

I am interested in the mechanisms which control the release of insulin and glucagon from the pancreas.

Most of my current work is focused on glucagon release. We found that non-B islet cells (most likely glucagon-secreting A-cells) contain ATP-sensitive K-channels (KATP) that are pharmacologically and electrophysiologically indistinguishable from those in insulin-secreting B-cells. I am interested in defining the role of KATP in the regulation of both insulin and glucagon release.

In our studies of normal and tumoral pancreatic endocrine cells we use electrophysiology, flow-cytometric cell-sorting, immunohistochemistry, radioimmunoassays, and sensitive luminometric microhistochemical assays, which we developed recently.

Previously, I have studied the Ca,Mg-ATPase of human erythrocyte membranes, and hormone release from the in vitro micro-perfused endocrine pancreas (weight ~5 mg) of channel catfish (Ictalurus nebulosus).

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