Fig. 7.

Absence of α-synuclein in α-synuclein knockout (ASKO) islets potentiates insulin secretion. α-Synuclein is not expressed in ASKO mouse pancreata. A: with PCR, the absence of α-synuclein genomic DNA was demonstrated in pancreata of ASKO mice, and its presence was confirmed in wild-type (WT) pancreata. The actin gene was present in pancreata of both ASKO and WT mice. B: immunoprecipitation confirmed a lack of α-synuclein protein in pancreata of ASKO mice and its presence in WT mouse pancreata. Insulin secretory rate was determined by incubating WT islets vs. islets from ASKO (KO) mice at indicated glucose conditions for 1 h. C: loss of α-synuclein significantly potentiated the insulin secretory rate at basal and intermediate but not at high stimulatory glucose. For each condition, 15 independent experiments were performed. *P < 0.05. ***P < 0.001.