Welcome to this discussion of a recent discovery that may lead to a new way to regulate insulin secretion by pancreatic β-cells. This new finding focuses on a particular citric acid cycle reaction (red box, Figure 1) and the enzyme, isocitrate dehydrogenase, that catalyzes the reaction. This enzyme is now proposed to be a regulator of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and it is a possible target for drug design to improve treatment of type II diabetes (Figure 2). The prevalence of diabetes in today's society makes it urgent to explore new discoveries of the mechanisms that control diabetes.

Figure 1. The citric acid cycle (King, 2006)

Figure 2. Testing blood glucose levels in a diabetes patient (Bromfield, 2006)