Figure 4
From: Kinetics of functional beta cell mass decay in a diphtheria toxin receptor mouse model of diabetes
Changes in beta cell mass and insulin expression patterns during RIP-DTR islet destruction. (a) Photographs and confocal images of RIP-DTR islets engrafted in the anterior chamber of the eye of RIP-DTR mice over the course of four days following diphtheria toxin administration (yellow bar). Reflected light images of the encircled islet are shown over time. (b) Quantification of confocal images per animal (grey lines, n = 3–10 islets) and overall mean ± SD (black line, n = 4). Graph shows a decrease of relative islet volumes, representing a gradual beta cell destruction. (c–e) Histological examination of paraffin sections from the RIP-DTR pancreas collected two days after diphtheria toxin treatment depicts islets have a normal morphology based on haematoxylin and eosin staining (c) whereas anti-insulin staining (green) shows a large spread in the fluorescence intensity (d,e). Graph shows individual insulin positive cells analysed (circles) and mean ± interquartile range (n = 3 mice, intensities are normalised per mouse to the average intensity). Confocal images are shown as maximum intensity projections. Scale bars = 50 μm.
