A radical explanation for glucose-induced beta cell dysfunction.

The development of type 2 diabetes requires impaired beta cell function. Hyperglycemia itself causes further decreases in glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. A new study demonstrates that hyperglycemia-induced mitochondrial superoxide production activates uncoupling protein 2, which decreases the ATP/ADP ratio and thus reduces the insulin-secretory response. These data suggest that pharmacologic inhibition of mitochondrial superoxide overproduction in beta cells exposed to hyperglycemia could prevent a positive feed-forward loop of glucotoxicity that drives impaired glucose tolerance toward frank type 2 diabetes.