National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Protein Cell. 2012 Jul;3(7):521-5. doi: 10.1007/s13238-012-2937-1. Epub 2012 Jul 10.
Insulin granule trafficking is a key step in the secretion of glucose-stimulated insulin from pancreatic β-cells. The main feature of type 2 diabetes (T2D) is the failure of pancreatic β-cells to secrete sufficient amounts of insulin to maintain normal blood glucose levels. In this work, we developed and applied tomography based on scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) to image intact insulin granules in the β-cells of mouse pancreatic islets. Using three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction, we found decreases in both the number and the grey level of insulin granules in db/db mouse pancreatic β-cells. Moreover, insulin granules were closer to the plasma membrane in diabetic β-cells than in control cells. Thus, 3D ultra-structural tomography may provide new insights into the pathology of insulin secretion in T2D.
胰岛素颗粒的运输是胰腺β细胞中葡萄糖刺激的胰岛素分泌的关键步骤。2 型糖尿病(T2D)的主要特征是胰腺β细胞无法分泌足够的胰岛素来维持正常的血糖水平。在这项工作中,我们开发并应用了基于扫描透射电子显微镜(STEM)的断层成像技术来对小鼠胰岛β细胞中的完整胰岛素颗粒进行成像。通过三维(3D)重建,我们发现 db/db 小鼠胰岛β细胞中的胰岛素颗粒数量和灰度值均减少。此外,与对照组细胞相比,糖尿病β细胞中的胰岛素颗粒更接近质膜。因此,3D 超微结构断层成像可能为 T2D 胰岛素分泌的病理学提供新的见解。