Perivascular Niche and Microvascular Maturity in Islet Graft Survival

We read with great interest the recent article in Diabetes by Gonçalves et al. (1), reporting that functional pericyte coverage of islet capillaries is compromised at very early stages of β-cell loss and low-grade inflammation, before the onset of overt hyperglycemia. Using a subdiabetogenic streptozotocin mouse model, the authors demonstrated that altered pericyte-endothelial interactions were associated with impaired vasomotor responses, increased vascular stiffness, and leakage of high-molecular-weight tracers from islet capillaries. These findings suggest that loss of microvascular homeostasis may contribute to early islet dysfunction rather than represent only a late complication of diabetes.



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