title: Dual-Reporter β-Cell-Specific Male Transgenic Rats for the Analysis of β-Cell Functional Mass and Enrichment by Flow Cytometry.
abstract: Mouse β-cell-specific reporter lines have played a key role in diabetes research. Although the rat provides several advantages, its use has lagged behind the mouse due to the relative paucity of genetic models. In this report we describe the generation and characterization of transgenic rats expressing a Renilla luciferase (RLuc)-enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) fusion under control of a 9-kb genomic fragment from the rat ins2 gene (RIP7-RLuc-YFP). Analysis of RLuc luminescence and YFP fluorescence revealed that reporter expression is restricted to β-cells in the adult rat. Physiological characteristics including body weight, fat and lean mass, fasting and fed glucose levels, glucose and insulin tolerance, and β-cell mass were similar between two RIP7-RLuc-YFP lines and wild-type littermates. Glucose-induced insulin secretion in isolated islets was indistinguishable from controls in one of the lines, whereas surprisingly, insulin secretion was defective in the second line. Consequently, subsequent studies were limited to the former line. We asked whether transgene activity was responsive to glucose as shown previously for the ins2 gene. Exposing islets ex vivo to high glucose (16.7 mM) or in vivo infusion of glucose for 24 hours increased luciferase activity in islets, whereas the fraction of YFP-positive β-cells after glucose infusion was unchanged. Finally, we showed that fluorescence-activated cell sorting of YFP-positive islet cells can be used to enrich for β-cells. Overall, this transgenic line will enable for the first time the application of both fluorescence and bioluminescence/luminescence-based approaches for the study of rat β-cells.
authors.affiliation: Montreal Diabetes Research Center (J.G., G.F., C.T., M.A.K., V.P.), Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (J.G., G.F., C.T., M.A.K., V.P.), and Departments of Medicine (V.P.) and Biochemistry (V.P.), University of Montreal, Montréal, Québec, Canada H2X 0A9.
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ghislain
authors.affiliation: Montreal Diabetes Research Center (J.G., G.F., C.T., M.A.K., V.P.), Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (J.G., G.F., C.T., M.A.K., V.P.), and Departments of Medicine (V.P.) and Biochemistry (V.P.), University of Montreal, Montréal, Québec, Canada H2X 0A9.
authors.forename: Ghislaine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fontés
authors.affiliation: Montreal Diabetes Research Center (J.G., G.F., C.T., M.A.K., V.P.), Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (J.G., G.F., C.T., M.A.K., V.P.), and Departments of Medicine (V.P.) and Biochemistry (V.P.), University of Montreal, Montréal, Québec, Canada H2X 0A9.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tremblay
authors.affiliation: Montreal Diabetes Research Center (J.G., G.F., C.T., M.A.K., V.P.), Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (J.G., G.F., C.T., M.A.K., V.P.), and Departments of Medicine (V.P.) and Biochemistry (V.P.), University of Montreal, Montréal, Québec, Canada H2X 0A9.
authors.forename: Melkam A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kebede
authors.affiliation: Montreal Diabetes Research Center (J.G., G.F., C.T., M.A.K., V.P.), Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (J.G., G.F., C.T., M.A.K., V.P.), and Departments of Medicine (V.P.) and Biochemistry (V.P.), University of Montreal, Montréal, Québec, Canada H2X 0A9.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Poitout
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019677:Artificial Gene Fusion; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D017930:Genes, Reporter / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D005947:Glucose / Q000494:pharmacology; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D007328:Insulin / Q000235:genetics*; D050417:Insulin-Secreting Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D049410:Luciferases, Renilla / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D023421:Models, Animal; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D051381:Rats; D055647:Rats, Transgenic
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001786:Blood Glucose; D007328:Insulin; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; C054562:yellow fluorescent protein, Bacteria; D049410:Luciferases, Renilla; D005947:Glucose