Pancreas

Biology

Streptozotocin

Endocrinology

Biochemistry

Insulin

GLUT2

Beta cell

In vitro

Internal medicine

Medicine

Glucose transporter

Chemistry

Pancreatic islets

GLUT1

Islet

Diabetes mellitus

Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications

Streptozotocin injection in animals destroys pancreatic β cells, leading to insulinopenic diabetes. Here, we evaluated the toxic effect of streptozotocin (STZ) in GLUT2−/− mice reexpressing either GLUT1 or GLUT2 in their β cells under the rat insulin promoter (RIPG1 × G2−/− and RIPG2 × G2−/− mice, respectively). We demonstrated that injection of STZ into RIPG2 × G2−/− mice induced hyperglycemia (>20 mM) and an ∼80% reduction in pancreatic insulin content. In vitro, the viability of RIPG2 × G2−/− islets was also strongly reduced. In contrast, STZ did not induce hyperglycemia in RIPG1 × G2−/− mice and did not reduce pancreatic insulin content. The viability of in vitro cultured RIPG1 × G2−/− islets was also unaffected by STZ. As islets from each type of transgenic mice were functionally indistinguishable, these data strongly support the notion that STZ toxicity toward β cells depends on the expression of GLUT2.

Differential Sensitivity of GLUT1- and GLUT2-Expressing β Cells to Streptozotocin