Functional role of natural killer T cells in non-obese pre-diabetes model mice.

Pre-diabetic patients have a high risk of developing diabetes as well as other associated diseases. From the viewpoint of risk assessment and to assist the development of protective therapies, we focused on the functional role of natural killer T (NKT) cells in pre-diabetes. We found that the expression of an NKT cell marker gene, Va14-Ja18, was significantly lower in specific tissues/organs such as adipose tissue and pancreas in non-obese pre-diabetes model mice than in their normal littermates.

Production of a mouse strain with impaired glucose tolerance by systemic heterozygous knockout of the glucokinase gene and its feasibility as a prediabetes model.

Exon II of glucokinase (Gk) was deleted to produce a systemic heterozygous Gk knockout (Gk(+/-)) mouse. The relative expression levels of Gk in the heart, lung, liver, stomach, and pancreas in Gk(+/-) mice ranged from 0.41-0.

Development of an optimized 5-stage protocol for the in vitro preparation of insulin-secreting cells from mouse ES cells.

In order to produce insulin-secreting cells with a high value of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) from mouse embryonic stem cells, we have developed an optimized 5-stage protocol by referring to culture conditions so far reported elsewhere. This protocol is characterized by 4 points: (1) use of an activin-free medium in the first stage, (2) use of gelatin/fibronectin coated culture dishes in 1-4 stages throughout, (3) removal of undifferentiated cells by cell sorter at the end of 4th stage, and (4) sedimental culture in the 5th stage. GSIS value of the produced cells reached 2.

Standard operating procedures for maintaining cleanliness in a novel compact facility for breeding SPF mice.

A compact facility for SPF mice that was not equipped with a large autoclave used disposable mouse cages instead. The SPF clean room was 5.7 × 8.