Tamoxifen-Induced Cre-loxP Recombination Is Prolonged in Pancreatic Islets of Adult Mice.

Tamoxifen (Tm)-inducible Cre recombinases are widely used to perform gene inactivation and lineage tracing studies in mice. Although the efficiency of inducible Cre-loxP recombination can be easily evaluated with reporter strains, the precise length of time that Tm induces nuclear translocation of CreER(Tm) and subsequent recombination of a target allele is not well defined, and difficult to assess. To better understand the timeline of Tm activity in vivo, we developed a bioassay in which pancreatic islets with a Tm-inducible reporter (from Pdx1(PB)-CreER(Tm);R26R(lacZ) mice) were transplanted beneath the renal capsule of adult mice previously treated with three doses of 1 mg Tm, 8 mg Tm, or corn oil vehicle.

Beta-cell proliferation, but not neogenesis, following 60% partial pancreatectomy is impaired in the absence of FoxM1.

Objective: This study was designed to determine whether the transcription factor FoxM1 was required for regeneration of beta-cell mass via proliferation and/or neogenesis in the adult after 60% partial pancreatectomy (PPx).

Research Design And Methods: Adult mice with a pancreas-wide deletion of Foxm1 (Foxm1(flox/flox);Pdx1-Cre [FoxM1(Deltapanc)]) and their control littermates (Foxm1(flox/flox)) were subjected to PPx or a sham operation, after which islet expression of Foxm1 and several target genes, beta-cell mass, proliferation, beta-cell size, islet size, islet density, and neurogenin-3 expression were analyzed.

Results: In control mice, PPx stimulated beta-cell proliferation and neogenesis and upregulated Foxm1 and several of its known targets (Plk1, Cenp-a, Birc5/Survivin, and Ccnb1) in islets.