The Ins2Akita mouse as a model of early retinal complications in diabetes.

Penn State Retina Research Group, The Ulerich Ophthalmology Research Laboratory, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, 17033, USA. abarber@psu.edu

PURPOSE: This study tested the Ins2(Akita) mouse as an animal model of retinal complications in diabetes. The Ins2(Akita) mutation results in a single amino acid substitution in the insulin 2 gene that causes misfolding of the insulin protein. The mutation arose and is maintained on the C57BL/6J background. Male mice heterozygous for this mutation have progressive loss of beta-cell function, decreased pancreatic beta-cell density, and significant hyperglycemia, as early as 4 weeks of age. METHODS: Heterozygous Ins2(Akita) mice were bred to C57BL/6J mice, and male offspring were monitored for hyperglycemia, beginning at 4.5 weeks of age. After 4 to 36 weeks of hyperglycemia, the retinas were analyzed for vascular permeability, vascular lesions, leukostasis, morphologic changes of micro- and macroglia, apoptosis, retinal degeneration, and insulin receptor kinase activity. RESULTS: The mean blood glucose of Ins2(Akita) mice was significantly elevated, whereas the body weight at death was reduced compared with that of control animals. Compared with sibling control mice, the Ins2(Akita) mice had increased retinal vascular permeability after 12 weeks of hyperglycemia (P < 0.005), a modest increase in acellular capillaries after 36 weeks of hyperglycemia (P < 0.0008), and alterations in the morphology of astrocytes and microglia, but no changes in expression of Muller cell glial fibrillary acidic protein. Increased apoptosis was identified by immunoreactivity for active caspase-3 after 4 weeks of hyperglycemia (P < 0.01). After 22 weeks of hyperglycemia, there was a 16.7% central and 27% peripheral reduction in the thickness of the inner plexiform layer, a 15.6% peripheral reduction in the thickness of the inner nuclear layer (P < 0.001), and a 23.4% reduction in the number of cell bodies in the retinal ganglion cell layer (P < 0.005). In vitro insulin receptor kinase activity was reduced (P < 0.05) after 12 weeks of hyperglycemia. CONCLUSIONS: The retinas of heterozygous male Ins2(Akita) mice exhibit vascular, neural, and glial abnormalities generally consistent with clinical observations and other animal models of diabetes. In light of the relatively early, spontaneous onset of the disease and the popularity of the C57BL/6J inbred strain as a background for the generation and study of other genetic alterations, combining the Ins2(Akita) mutation with other engineered mutations will be of great use for studying the molecular basis of retinal complications of diabetes.

PMID: 15914643 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Insulin inhibits platelet-derived growth factor-induced cell proliferation.

Dipartimento di Scienze Biochimiche, Università di Firenze, 50134 Firenze, Italy.

Cellular behavior can be considered to be the result of a very complex spatial and temporal integration of intracellular and extracellular signals. These signals arise from serum-soluble factors as well as from cell-substrate or cell-cell interactions. The current approach in mitogenesis studies is generally to analyze the effect of a single growth factor on serum-starved cells. In this context, a metabolic hormone such as insulin is found to be a mitogenic agent in many cellular types. In the present study, we have considered the effect of insulin stimulation in platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-activated NIH-3T3 and C2C12 cells. Our results show that insulin is able to inhibit strongly both NIH-3T3 and C2C12 cell growth induced by PDGF, one of the most powerful mitotic agents for these cell types. This inhibitory effect of insulin is due primarily to a premature down-regulation of the PDGF receptor. Thus, when NIH-3T3 or C2C12 cells are stimulated with both PDGF and insulin, we observe a decrease in PDGF receptor phosphorylation with respect to cells treated with PDGF alone. In particular, we find that costimulation with insulin leads to a reduced production of H2O2 with respect to cell stimulation with PDGF alone. The relative low concentration of H2O2 in PDGF/insulin-costimulated cell leads to a limited down-regulation of protein tyrosine phosphatases, and, consequently, to a reduced PDGF receptor phosphorylation efficiency. The latter is very likely to be responsible for the insulin-dependent inhibition of PDGF-receptor mitogenic signaling.

PMID: 15525682 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

PMCID: PMC539153

The forkhead transcription factor Foxo1 links insulin signaling to Pdx1 regulation of pancreatic beta cell growth.

Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, Department of Medicine, College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, New York, USA.

Diabetes is caused by an absolute (type 1) or relative (type 2) deficiency of insulin-producing beta cells. The mechanisms governing replication of terminally differentiated beta cells and neogenesis from progenitor cells are unclear. Mice lacking insulin receptor substrate-2 (Irs2) develop beta cell failure, suggesting that insulin signaling is required to maintain an adequate beta cell mass. We report that haploinsufficiency for the forkhead transcription factor Foxo1 reverses beta cell failure in Irs2(-/-) mice through partial restoration of beta cell proliferation and increased expression of the pancreatic transcription factor pancreas/duodenum homeobox gene-1 (Pdx1). Foxo1 and Pdx1 exhibit mutually exclusive patterns of nuclear localization in beta cells, and constitutive nuclear expression of a mutant Foxo1 is associated with lack of Pdx1 expression. We show that Foxo1 acts as a repressor of Foxa2-dependent (Hnf-3beta-dependent) expression from the Pdx1 promoter. We propose that insulin/IGFs regulate beta cell proliferation by relieving Foxo1 inhibition of Pdx1 expression in a subset of cells embedded within pancreatic ducts.

PMID: 12488434 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

PMCID: PMC151657

In vitro fertilization causes epigenetic modifications to the onset of gene expression from the zygotic genome in mice.

Human Reproduction Unit, Department of Physiology, University of Sydney, Royal North Shore Hospital of Sydney, St. Leonards, NSW 2065, Australia.

The effect of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and culture of mouse preimplantation embryos in vitro on the onset of expression of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) ligand and receptor, insulin ligand and receptor, alpha-transforming growth factor (alpha-TGF) ligand, PAF:acetylhydrolase 1b (Pafah1b; alpha(1), alpha(2), and beta subunits of the enzyme), and the transcription requiring complex proteins (TRC) was examined. The IGF-1 ligand was detected in preimplantation embryos by immunofluorescence at all developmental stages tested. However, IVF and culture significantly reduced the amount of protein detected in the 8-cell embryo and blastocyst (P: < 0.001), and this was due to a delayed onset of expression of the mRNA for IGF-1 ligand from the zygotic genome. The expression of the alpha(1) subunit of Pafah1b was first detected at the 2-cell stage in fresh embryos, but expression was significantly retarded (P: < 0.001) when IVF and ISF (in situ-fertilized) zygotes were cultured in vitro. In vitro fertilization or ISF did not delay the onset of expression of TRC nor mRNA for the IGF-1 receptor, insulin receptor, alpha(2) or beta subunit of Pafah1b, nor did they effect alpha-TGF protein synthesis. Thus, IVF causes epigenetic modification in the normal pattern of expression of some but not all genes involved in normal embryo growth and survival.

PMID: 11159375 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Genetic control of insulin receptors.

Insulin-binding activity was measured in hepatocyte suspensions and liver membrane preparations from newborn mice homozygous for a perinatal-lethal deletion at and around the albino locus in chromosome 7. Cell suspensions and membrane preparations from the mutant mice exhibited only 20-25% of the specific hormone-binding activity observed in comparable preparations from their homozygous normal and heterozygous littermates. The decrease in insulin-binding activity appears to be attributable to a decrease in the number of insulin receptor sites per cell rather than to a change in receptor affinity. Gene sequences deleted at and around the albino locus are therefore instrumental in the regulation of insulin receptor concentration rather than in coding for the insulin receptor itself. The results of the present studies extend the identification of the regulatory functions exerted by the genes around the albino locus of the mouse.

PMID: 7031649 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

PMCID: PMC349038

Expression of genes for insulin and insulin-like growth factors and receptors in early postimplantation mouse embryos and embryonal carcinoma cells.

Department of Medical Biochemistry, University of Calgary Health Sciences Centre, Alberta, Canada.

The expression of genes for insulin and insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and their receptors was examined in early postimplantation mouse embryos and differentiating F9 embryonal carcinoma cells using mRNA phenotyping. Messenger RNA phenotyping involves the reverse transcription of RNA followed by amplification of specific target cDNA sequences using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The identities of the resulting PCR fragments were confirmed using at least two of the following methods: 1) size determination by agarose gel electrophoresis, 2) the presence of diagnostic restriction sites, 3) hybridization with radiolabeled cDNA probes, 4) sequencing of the PCR fragment. Transcripts for insulin receptors, IGF-I receptors, and IGF-II receptors were detected in RNA samples from day 7.5 to day 9.5 mouse embryos and in F9 cells, although the level of insulin receptor mRNA in F9 cells was very low. Transcripts for both IGF-I and IGF-II ligands were also detectable in the embryo and F9 RNA samples, but transcripts for insulin ligand were undetectable in either set of material. The results suggest that insulin does not act as a paracrine or autocrine growth factor in early postimplantation embryos or F9 cells but that both embryos and F9 cells have the potential to respond to exogenous (e.g., maternal) sources of insulin. Both IGF-I and IGF-II could act as paracrine or autocrine growth factors, and IGF-II is the more abundant growth factor in differentiating F9 cells.

PMID: 1701096 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Insulin-like growth factor II acts through an endogenous growth pathway regulated by imprinting in early mouse embryos.

Department of Anatomy, University of California, San Francisco 94143-0750.

We present evidence that insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) mediates growth in early mouse embryos and forms a pathway in which imprinted genes influence development during preimplantation stages. mRNA and protein for IGF-II were expressed in preimplantation mouse embryos, but the related factors IGF-I and insulin were not. IGF-I and insulin receptors and the IGF-II/mannose-6-phosphate receptor were expressed. Exogenous IGF-II or IGF-I increased the cell number in cultured blastocysts, but a mutant form of IGF-II that strongly binds only the IGF-II receptor did not. Reduction of IGF-II expression by antisense IGF-II oligonucleotides decreased the rate of progression to the blastocyst stage and decreased the cell number in blastocysts. Preimplantation parthenogenetic mouse embryos expressed mRNA for the IGF-II receptor but not for either IGF-II ligand or the IGF-I receptor, indicating that the latter genes are not expressed when inherited maternally. These data imply that some growth factors and receptors, regulated by genomic imprinting, may control cell proliferation from the earliest stages of embryonic development.

PMID: 1317321 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]