Subpopulations of GFP-marked mouse pancreatic β-cells differ in size, granularity, and insulin secretion.

There is growing information about the heterogeneity of pancreatic β-cells and how it relates to insulin secretion. This study used the approach of flow cytometry to sort and analyze β-cells from transgenic mice expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the control of the mouse insulin I gene promoter. Three populations of β-cells with differing GFP brightness could be identified, which were classified as GFP-low, GFP-medium, and GFP-bright.