FIGURE 5.
Improved glucose tolerance in the HFD-fed Gαz-null mice may be due to increased β-cell mass. A–D, representative sections from anti-insulin stained pancreas sections (brown) counterstained with hematoxylin (blue) that were used to calculate fractional β-cell area. A, wild type, control diet; B, wild type, HFD; C, Gαz-null, control diet; D, Gαz-null, HFD. Three nonconsecutive sections were imaged per pancreas, with two or three pancreata imaged per group. The black scale bars indicate 1 mm (ticks indicate 200 μm). E, β-cell fractional area was calculated from insulin-stained pancreas sections and reported as the percentage of total pancreas area on the slide. Three nonconsecutive sections separated by at least 100 microns were quantified for each pancreas (n = 2–3 mice for each group). F, the HFD-fed Gαz-null mice have significantly increased calculated β-cell mass as compared with the wild-type HFD-fed mice. Pancreas weights from individual mice were transformed using the mean fractional area in A. The data were analyzed by unpaired t test. *, p < 0.05. ctrl, control.