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. 2012 Jun 3;3(7):521–525. doi: 10.1007/s13238-012-2937-1

Ultra-structural study of insulin granules in pancreatic β-cells of db/db mouse by scanning transmission electron microscopy tomography

Yanhong Xue 1, Wei Zhao 1, Wen Du 1, Xiang Zhang 1, Gang Ji 1, Wang Ying 1, Tao Xu 1,2,✉
PMCID: PMC4875393  PMID: 22773341

Abstract

Insulin granule trafficking is a key step in the secretion of glucose-stimulated insulin from pancreatic β-cells. The main feature of type 2 diabetes (T2D) is the failure of pancreatic β-cells to secrete sufficient amounts of insulin to maintain normal blood glucose levels. In this work, we developed and applied tomography based on scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) to image intact insulin granules in the β-cells of mouse pancreatic islets. Using three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction, we found decreases in both the number and the grey level of insulin granules in db/db mouse pancreatic β-cells. Moreover, insulin granules were closer to the plasma membrane in diabetic β-cells than in control cells. Thus, 3D ultra-structural tomography may provide new insights into the pathology of insulin secretion in T2D.

Electronic Supplementary Material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13238-012-2937-1 contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Keywords: insulin, secretory granule, diabetes, stem, tomography, 3D reconstruction

Electronic Supplementary Material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Movie 1(AVI 1288 kb) (1.3MB, avi)
Movie 2(AVI 1601 kb) (1.6MB, avi)

Footnotes

Electronic Supplementary Material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13238-012-2937-1 contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Supplementary Materials

Movie 1(AVI 1288 kb) (1.3MB, avi)
Movie 2(AVI 1601 kb) (1.6MB, avi)

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