title: Pancreatic-specific inactivation of IGF-I gene causes enlarged pancreatic islets and significant resistance to diabetes.
abstract: The dogma that IGF-I stimulates pancreatic islet growth has been challenged by combinational targeting of IGF or IGF-IR (IGF receptor) genes as well as beta-cell-specific IGF-IR gene deficiency, which caused no defect in islet cell growth. To assess the physiological role of locally produced IGF-I, we have developed pancreatic-specific IGF-I gene deficiency (PID) by crossing Pdx1-Cre and IGF-I/loxP mice. PID mice are normal except for decreased blood glucose level and a 2.3-fold enlarged islet cell mass. When challenged with low doses of streptozotocin, control mice developed hyperglycemia after 6 days that was maintained at high levels for at least 2 months. In contrast, PID mice only exhibited marginal hyperglycemia after 12 days, maintained throughout the experiment. Fifteen days after streptozotocin, PID mice demonstrated significantly higher levels of insulin production. Furthermore, streptozotocin-induced beta-cell apoptosis (transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling [TUNEL] assay) was significantly prevented in PID mice. Finally, PID mice exhibited a delayed onset of type 2 diabetes induced by a high-fat diet, accompanied by super enlarged pancreatic islets, increased insulin mRNA levels, and preserved sensitivity to insulin. Our results suggest that locally produced IGF-I within the pancreas inhibits islet cell growth; its deficiency provides a protective environment to the beta-cells and potential in combating diabetes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Yarong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Pedro L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Herrera
authors.forename: Yubin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Zhengyi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Derek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: LeRoith
authors.forename: Jun-Li
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D020868:Gene Silencing / Q000502:physiology*; D005934:Glucagon / Q000097:blood; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000235:genetics; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics*; D007515:Islets of Langerhans / Q000166:cytology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D010179:Pancreas / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D007328:Insulin; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; D005934:Glucagon