Leveraging zebrafish to investigate pancreatic development, regeneration, and diabetes.

The zebrafish has become an outstanding model for studying organ development and tissue regeneration, which is prominently leveraged for studies of pancreatic development, insulin-producing β-cells, and diabetes. Although studied for more than two decades, many aspects remain elusive and it has only recently been possible to investigate these due to technical advances in transcriptomics, chemical-genetics, genome editing, drug screening, and in vivo imaging. Here, we review recent findings on zebrafish pancreas development, β-cell regeneration, and how zebrafish can be used to provide novel insights into gene functions, disease mechanisms, and therapeutic targets in diabetes, inspiring further use of zebrafish for the development of novel therapies for diabetes.

In vivo screen identifies a SIK inhibitor that induces β cell proliferation through a transient UPR.

It is known that β cell proliferation expands the β cell mass during development and under certain hyperglycemic conditions in the adult, a process that may be used for β cell regeneration in diabetes. Here, through a new high-throughput screen using a luminescence ubiquitination-based cell cycle indicator (LUCCI) in zebrafish, we identify HG-9-91-01 as a driver of proliferation and confirm this effect in mouse and human β cells. HG-9-91-01 is an inhibitor of salt-inducible kinases (SIKs), and overexpression of Sik1 specifically in β cells blocks the effect of HG-9-91-01 on β cell proliferation.

Is sustainable extensive green roof realizable without irrigation in a temperate monsoonal climate? A case study in Beijing.

A strategy to combat the adverse effects of urbanization involves the installation of green roofs under different climatic conditions. The design and maintenance of green roof systems need to be tailored to the local climate. However, there is a scarcity of reports on the performance of plants under temperate monsoonal climatic conditions.

Melatonin Relieves Busulfan-Induced Spermatogonial Stem Cell Apoptosis of Mouse Testis by Inhibiting Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress.

Background/aims: Busulfan is commonly used for cancer chemotherapy. Although it has the advantage of increasing the survival rate of patients, it can cause male infertility via damaging the testes and reducing sperm counts. Therefore, the underlying mechanism should be explored, and new agents should be developed to protect the male reproductive system from busulfan-induced damage.

Resveratrol controlled the fate of porcine pancreatic stem cells through the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway mediated by Sirt1.

Porcine pancreatic stem cells (PSCs) are considered promising transplant materials that may be used to treat diabetes, but some problems, such as insufficient cell number and low differentiation efficiency, should be solved before its clinical application. Resveratrol is a natural polyphenolic compound that can alleviate the complications of diabetes. In this study, we aimed to explore the specific effect of resveratrol on porcine PSCs.

Autophagy is essential for the differentiation of porcine PSCs into insulin-producing cells.

Porcine pancreatic stem cells (PSCs) are seed cells with potential use for diabetes treatment. Stem cell differentiation requires strict control of protein turnover and lysosomal digestion of organelles. Autophagy is a highly conserved process that controls the turnover of organelles and proteins within cells and contributes to the balance of cellular components.

Autophagy stimulated proliferation of porcine PSCs might be regulated by the canonical Wnt signaling pathway.

Porcine pancreatic stem cells (PSCs) are one kind of the potential cells for treatment of human diabetes. Autophagy is a highly conserved cellular degradation process in which it helps to maintain the balance between the synthesis, degradation and subsequent recycling of cellular components. However, how autophagy contributes to PSCs has not yet been investigated.

miR-375 controls porcine pancreatic stem cell fate by targeting 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase-1 (Pdk1).

Objectives: miR-375 is one of the highly expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) found in pancreatic islets of both humans and mice. In this study, we investigated functions of miRNA miR-375 in porcine pancreatic stem cells (PSC).

Materials And Methods: We transfected mimic and inhibitor of miR-375 in PSCs to measure functional roles of the microRNA and its effects on cell cycle proliferation and cell differentiation were determined.

Establishment of a porcine pancreatic stem cell line using T-REx(™) system-inducible Wnt3a expression.

Objectives: Porcine pancreatic stem cells (PSCs) are highly valuable in transplantation applications for type II diabetes. However, there are still many problems to be solved before they can be used in the clinic, such as insufficient cell number availability and low secretion level of insulin. It has been reported that Wnt3a plays pivotal roles during cell proliferation and differentiation.