ABSTRACT In the presence of an insulinotropic glucose concentration, beta-cells, in intact pancreatic islets, exhibit periodic bursting electrical activity consisting of an alternation of active and silent phases. The fraction of time spent in the active phase over a period is called the plateau fraction and is correlated with the rate of insulin release. However, the mechanisms that regulate the plateau fraction remain unclear. In this paper we investigate the possible role of the plasma membrane Na+/Ca^sup 2+^ exchange of the beta-cell in controlling the plateau fraction. We have extended different single-cell models to incorporate this Ca2+-activated electrogenic Ca^sup 2+^ …
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