Pourghadamyari H, Rezaei M, Basiri M, Tahamtani Y, Asgari B, Hassani SN, Meshkani R, Golmohammadi T, Baharvand H. Generation of a Transgenic Zebrafish Model for Pancreatic Beta Cell Regeneration.
Galen Med J 2019;
8:e1056. [PMID:
34466457 PMCID:
PMC8344119 DOI:
10.31661/gmj.v8i0.1056]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2017] [Revised: 11/12/2017] [Accepted: 11/17/2017] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Diabetes is a major worldwide health problem. It is widely accepted that the beta cell mass decreases in type I diabetes (T1D). Accordingly, beta cell regeneration is a promising approach to increase the beta cell mass in T1D patients. However, the underlying mechanisms of beta cell regeneration have yet to be elucidated. One promising avenue is to create a relevant animal model to explore the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms of beta cell regeneration. The zebrafish can be considered a model in beta cell regeneration studies because the pancreas structure and gene expression pattern are highly conserved between human and zebrafish.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
In this study, the Tol2 transposase was exploited to generate a Tg(Ins:egfp-nfsB) zebrafish model that expressed a fusion protein composed of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and nitroreductase (NTR) under control of the Ins promoter.
RESULTS
Metronidazole (MTZ) treatment of Tg(ins:egfp-nfsB) zebrafish larvae led to selective ablation of beta cells. Proof-of-concept evidence for beta cell regeneration in the transgenic larvae was observed two days after withdrawal of MTZ.
CONCLUSION
This study suggests that the Tg(ins:egfp-nfsB) zebrafish can be used as a disease model to study beta cell regeneration and elucidate underlying mechanisms during the regeneration process.
Collapse