Abstract
Mouse islets are commonly used in diabetes-related studies. Adequate amounts of good quality islets are prerequisites for a reliable investigation. We describe a protocol for islet isolation from mouse pancreas. Three major manipulations are employed in the islet isolation procedure: in situ pancreas perfusion with collagenase, pancreas digestion and islet purification. The whole procedure takes 30–45 min for each individual mouse. By using this protocol, a reasonable number of islets can be obtained in a relatively short period of time. This protocol has been proven to be practicable and reproducible. It can be easily followed by individuals who do not have previous experience in the related research field.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province to D.-S.L., H.-J.T., Y.-H.Y., Q.-L.L. and Woodward Foundation to L.-J.D. We are grateful to Drs Jian-Qiang Hao and Susan Heung for their helpful advice and James Dai for his help on artwork and manuscript preparation.
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All authors contributed equally to this work. Y.-H.Y. and Q.-L.L. conducted reagent and equipment preparation, animal handling and operation. D.-S.L. and L.-J.D. performed the pancreas digestion and islet purification. L.-J.D. wrote the main paper. All authors discussed the results and implications and commented on the manuscript at all stages.
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Li, DS., Yuan, YH., Tu, HJ. et al. A protocol for islet isolation from mouse pancreas. Nat Protoc 4, 1649–1652 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2009.150
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2009.150
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