Imaging pancreatic beta-cells in the intact pancreas |
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Authors: | Hara Manami Dizon Restituto F Glick Benjamin S Lee Catherine S Kaestner Klaus H Piston David W Bindokas Vytautas P |
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Affiliation: | Dept. of Medicine, University of Chicago, 5841 South Maryland Ave., MC1027, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. mhara@midway.uchicago.edu |
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Abstract: | We have developed a method to visualize fluorescent protein-labeled beta-cells in the intact pancreas through combined reflection and confocal imaging. This method provides a 3-D view of the beta-cells in situ. Imaging of the pancreas from mouse insulin I promoter (MIP)-green (GFP) and red fluorescent protein (RFP) transgenic mice shows that islets, beta-cell clusters, and single beta-cells are not evenly distributed but are aligned along the large blood vessels. We also observe the solitary beta-cells in both fetal and adult mice and along the pancreatic and common bile ducts. We have imaged the developing endocrine cells in the embryos using neurogenin-3 (Ngn3)-GFP mice crossed with MIP-RFP mice. The dual-color-coded pancreas from embryos (E15.5) shows a large number of green Ngn3-expressing proendocrine cells with a smaller number of red beta-cells. The imaging technique that we have developed, coupled with the transgenic mice in which beta-cells and beta-cell progenitors are labeled with different fluorescent proteins, will be useful for studying pancreatic development and function in normal and disease states. |
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