Fig 22. Variable effect of Pax6 ablation in the islets of adult-ubiquitous Pax6 KO mice.

Double immunofluorescence staining of pancreatic cryosections from mice that were injected with tamoxifen at 2 months of age and analysed at 1 week, 2 weeks, and 3 weeks post tamoxifen induction. Ghrelin⁺ cells are not detected in the control islets (a-d). In the ubiquitous Pax6 KO islets, ghrelin expression is up regulated (e-p). Ghrelin expression shows co-localization with that of glucagon (e, i, m) and insulin (f, j, n) but never with that of somatostatin (g, k, o) and PP (h, l, p). In ubiquitous Pax6 KO islets, a loss of glucagon (e, i, m) and insulin expression (f, j, n) was observed but not that of somatostatin (g, k, o) and PP (h, l, p). Furthermore, glucagon⁺ cells were the first ones to be affected in relation to the loss of glucagon expression and upregulation of ghrelin expression (e, i, m). (TI = Tamoxifen induction).