Development
Development
5 years ago

In vivo imaging of emerging endocrine cells reveals a requirement for PI3K-regulated motility in pancreatic islet morphogenesis.

Martin Hermann, Julia Freudenblum, José A Iglesias, Dirk Meyer, Tanja Walsen, Robin A Kimmel, Armin Wilfinger
The three-dimensional architecture of the pancreatic islet is critical for beta cell function, but the process of islet formation remains poorly understood due to the difficulties of imaging internal organs with cellular resolution. Within transparent zebrafish larvae, the developing pancreas is relatively superficial and thus amenable to live imaging approaches. We performed in vivo time lapse and longitudinal imaging studies to follow islet develoment, visualizing both naturally occuring islet cells and cells arising with an accelerated time course following an induction approach. These studies revealed previously unappreciated fine dynamic protrusions projecting between neighboring and distant endocrine cells. Using pharmacologic compound and toxin interference approaches, and single-cell analysis of morphology and cell dynamics, we determined that endocrine cell motility is regulated by PI3K and G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling. Linking cell dynamics to islet formation, perturbation of protrusion formation disrupted endocrine cell coalescence, and correlated with decreased islet cell differentiation. These studies identified novel cell behaviors contributing to islet morphogenesis, and suggest a model in which dynamic, exploratory filopodia establish cell-cell contacts which subsequently promote cell clustering.

Publisher URL: http://doi.org/10.1242/dev.158477

DOI: 10.1242/dev.158477

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.