Age-dependent labeling and imaging of insulin secretory granules

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Insulin is stored within the secretory granules of pancreatic β-cells, and impairment of its release is the hallmark of type 2 diabetes. Preferential exocytosis of newly synthesized insulin suggests that granule aging is a key factor influencing insulin secretion. Here, we illustrate a technology that enables the study of granule aging in insulinoma cells and β-cells of knock-in mice through the conditional and unequivocal labeling of insulin fused to the SNAP tag. This approach, which overcomes the limits encountered with previous strategies based on radiolabeling or fluorescence timer proteins, allowed us to formally demonstrate the preferential release of newly synthesized insulin and reveal that the motility of cortical granules significantly changes over time. Exploitation of this approach may enable the identification of molecular signatures associated with granule aging and unravel possible alterations of granule turnover in diabetic β-cells. Furthermore, the method is of general interest for the study of membrane traffic and aging.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3687-3696
Number of pages10
JournalDiabetes
Volume62
Issue number11
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2013
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMedCentral PMC3806613
Scopus 84891675212
ORCID /0000-0001-5624-1717/work/142239024

Keywords

Sustainable Development Goals

Keywords

  • Animals, Cell Line, Cellular Senescence/physiology, Humans, Insulin/metabolism, Insulin Secretion, Islets of Langerhans/metabolism, Mice, Proinsulin/metabolism, Secretory Vesicles/metabolism

Library keywords