Abstract: [Abstract] Objective To investigate the possible mechanism of sodium tungstate in diabetic therapeutical effects and the protective function in neonatal porcine islet cells, the effects of sodium tungstate on proliferation and differentiation of neonatal porcine islet cells was observed in vitro in our experiment. Methods Neonatal porcine islets (NPIS) were cultured with various concentration of sodium tungstate and carry out cell counting and MTT assay every other day. NPIS were exposed to the most proper concentration 300μmol/L sodium tungstate for three days, and the glucose-stimulated insulin secrtion (GSIS) were detected，the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), insulin content in islet cells and PDX-1 mRNA , GLUT-2 mRNA were assayed by Western blot and RT-PCR respectively . Results The group of islet cells cultured with the dose of 300μmol/L had the higher light absorption in MTT assay（P < 0.05）and GSIS was significantly increased in the group.The protein expressions of PCNA（1.17±0.13 vs2.24±0.19,P < 0. 05），INSULIN content （0.37±0.08 vs1.62±0.17，P < 0. 01）and mRNA expressions of PDX-1（0.11±0.03 vs0.34±0.05，P < 0. 01）、GLUT-2（0.13±0.02 vs 1.06±0.10，P < 0. 01）were all significantly up-regulated by sodium tungstate. Conclusion 300μmol/L sodium tungstate have the advanced effect on promoting the proliferation and differentiation of neonatal porcine islet cell. It also have the effect in enhancing the function of insulin secretion.

Key words: sodium tungstate, neonatal porcine islet cell, proliferation and differentiation, the function of islet cell