Fig. 4.

BLI declines after β cell destruction and correlates with β cell mass. a Treatment with streptozotocin (STZ, 175 mg/kg) leads to a progressive decline in bioluminescence (black squares) from MIP-Luc-VU mice (n=3) and is accompanied by an increase in blood glucose level (open circles; n=3). b The insulin content (white bar) and luciferase activity (black bar) of pancreata excised from untreated control MIP-Luc-VU mice is higher than in mice 8 days after STZ injection (n=4). Luciferase activity and insulin content measurements were performed on separate pancreatic extracts. c Immunocytochemistry of an islet from a MIP-Luc-VU mouse 8 days after STZ treatment was stained for insulin (green) and luciferase (red). The larger panel shows co-labeling of cells for insulin and luciferase. d The mass of β cells (white bar) and luciferase-expressing cells (black bar), as determined by morphometric analysis, of MIP-Luc-VU mice 8 days after STZ administration was significantly reduced compared with untreated control pancreata (n=4 mice, 30–40 islets per mouse; unpaired t test; *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.005).