Figure 2. Insulin⁺ ductal cells and small islet clusters localized close to ducts are increased in LIRKO mice during pregnancy.

(A) Representative immunofluorescence images obtained from control and LIRKO mice before, during, and after pregnancy and stained for insulin (shown in blue), glucagon (shown in red) and ductal marker DBA (shown in green). Insets point to DBA and insulin⁺ cells. (B) Quantification of DBA and insulin double-positive cells in pregnant and nonpregnant control and LIRKO mice (n = 3–5 mice per group, 2-tailed Student’s t test). (C) Representative immunofluorescence images showing small islet clusters positive for insulin (blue) or glucagon (red) and DBA (green). Insets point to clusters localized to ductal structure. (D) Quantification of the distance of scattered islet clusters (fewer than 10 islet cells) from the ducts. Groups are shown as percentage of total scattered islets that were counted (n = 3 pancreas sections analyzed per group for each time point, 2-tailed Student’s t test). Scale bars: 10 μm (A), 20 μm (C). ^#Control versus control, *control versus LIRKO, and ^§LIRKO versus LIRKO. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM. ^#P, ^§P, and *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01.