Beta cells (beta-cells, β-cells) are a type of cell in the pancreas located in the so-called islets of Langerhans. They make up 65-80% of the cells in the islets.

Beta cells store and release insulin, a hormone that controls the level of glucose in the blood. The liver maintains the base-line glucose level, but the beta cells can respond quickly to spikes in blood glucose by releasing some of its stored insulin while simultaneously producing more. The response time is very quick.

Apart from insulin, beta cells release C-peptide, a byproduct of insulin production, into the bloodstream in equimolar quantities. C-peptide helps to prevent neuropathy and other symptoms of diabetes related to vascular deterioration. Measuring the levels of C-peptide can give a practitioner an idea of the viable beta cell mass.

Beta-cells also produce amylin, also known as IAPP, islet amyloid polypeptide. Amylin functions as part of the endocrine pancreas and contributes to glycemic control. Amylin's metabolic function is now somewhat well characterized as an inhibitor of the appearance of nutrient [especially glucose] in the plasma. Thus, it functions as a synergistic partner to insulin. Whereas insulin regulates long-term food intake, increased amylin decreases food intake in the short term.

Beta (UK /ˈbiːtə/ or US /ˈbeɪtə/; uppercase Β, lowercase β; Greek: Βήτα Bḗta) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In Ancient Greek, beta represented the voiced bilabial plosive /b/. In Modern Greek, it represents the voiced labiodental fricative /v/.

The letter Beta was derived from the Phoenician letter Beth . Letters that arose from Beta include the Roman letter ⟨B⟩ and the Cyrillic letters ⟨Б⟩ and ⟨В⟩.

In the system of Greek numerals Beta has a value of 2.

Like the names of most other Greek letters, the name of beta was adopted from the acrophonic name of the corresponding letter in Phoenician, which was the common Semitic word *bayt ('house'). In Greek, the name was βῆτα bêta, pronounced [bɛ̂ːta] in Ancient Greek. It is spelled βήτα in the modern monotonic orthography, and pronounced [ˈvita]. In English, the name is pronounced either /ˈbeɪtə/ (US) or /ˈbiːtə/ (UK)).

In computing the term 'beta' is used as (usually) the last pre-release in the Software release life cycle. It is sometimes referred to as 0.x in version numbers or x.x bx where x represents a number.

Cell(s) may refer to: