Figure 4.

Islets from HSP27TG mice experience less apoptosis from cytokines stress than WT. Isolated islets were incubated with 25 mm glucose medium for 24 h, followed by 5.5 mm glucose medium with cytokines (IL-1β 50 U/ml; TNF-α 1000 U/ml; γ-IFN 1000 U/ml) for 48 h. Cultured islets from WT mice showed higher caspase-3 activity than HSP27TG islets, demonstrating more apoptosis in WT than HSP27TG. The increment observed in cytokine-exposed HSP27TG islets compared with controls failed to reach statistical significance.