title: Transgenic mice with green fluorescent protein-labeled pancreatic beta -cells.
abstract: We have generated transgenic mice that express green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the control of the mouse insulin I gene promoter (MIP). The MIP-GFP mice develop normally and are indistinguishable from control animals with respect to glucose tolerance and pancreatic insulin content. Histological studies showed that the MIP-GFP mice had normal islet architecture with coexpression of insulin and GFP in the beta-cells of all islets. We observed GFP expression in islets from embryonic day E13.5 through adulthood. Studies of beta-cell function revealed no difference in glucose-induced intracellular calcium mobilization between islets from transgenic and control animals. We prepared single-cell suspensions from both isolated islets and whole pancreas from MIP-GFP-transgenic mice and sorted the beta-cells by fluorescence-activated cell sorting based on their green fluorescence. These studies showed that 2.4 +/- 0.2% (n = 6) of the cells in the pancreas of newborn (P1) and 0.9 +/- 0.1% (n = 5) of 8-wk-old mice were beta-cells. The MIP-GFP-transgenic mouse may be a useful tool for studying beta-cell biology in normal and diabetic animals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, The University of Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. mhara@midway.uchicago.edu
authors.forename: Manami
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.forename: Xiaoyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawamura
authors.forename: Vytas P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Bindokas
authors.forename: Restituto F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Dizon
authors.forename: Sergio Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Alcoser
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Magnuson
authors.forename: Graeme I
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Bell
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D002452:Cell Count; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D015870:Gene Expression; D005947:Glucose / Q000494:pharmacology; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D007328:Insulin / Q000235:genetics*; D007515:Islets of Langerhans / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D010179:Pancreas / Q000196:embryology / Q000254:growth & development; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D005947:Glucose; D002118:Calcium