[The change of alpha cell mass and its mechanism with diabetic progress].
OBJECTIVE
To explore the change of a cell mass and its mechanism with diabetic progress.


METHODS
Diabetic mice were killed by exsanguinations after 4, 12 and 20 weeks of diabetes, respectively. Indirect double immunofluorescences for Insulin/Ki67, or BrdU, Cleaved-Caspase 3, TUNEL were used to evaluate pancreatic alpha cell mass, regeneration and apoptosis of a cells. Indirect triple immunofluorescences for Glucagon/ Neurogenin 3/MafA and Western blot analysis for Neurogenin 3 were used to determine neogenesis of pancreatic alpha cells.


RESULTS
Pancreatic alpha cell mass was gradually increased with diabetic progress. It was significantly different from that of controls. There weren't any proliferation and apoptosis of alpha cell during diabetes, however, many Neurogenin 3+ cells appeared in the pancreatic islets of diabetic mice, and most of them were co-stained with MafA and Glucagon.


CONCLUSIONS
Pancreatic alpha cell mass is gradually increased with diabetic progress. It seems to be strongly associated with neogenesis of pancreatic alpha cells.
Department of Anatomy and Histo-Embryology, Laboratory of Key Discipline of Shangdong, Weifang Medical University, Weifang 261053, China.
Ru-Jiang
RJ
Li
Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Disease, Ministry of Education, Department of Anatomy and Histo-Embryology, Medical College of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, China.
Shu-Dong
SD
Qiu
Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Disease, Ministry of Education, Department of Anatomy and Histo-Embryology, Medical College of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, China.
Hong
H
Tian
Department of Anatomy and Histo-Embryology, Laboratory of Key Discipline of Shangdong, Weifang Medical University, Weifang 261053, China.
Sheng-Wei
SW
Zhou
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D002452:Cell Count; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000473:pathology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D050416:Glucagon-Secreting Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL