Apoptosis rate and transcriptional response of pancreatic islets exposed to the PPAR gamma agonist Pioglitazone. Mus musculus

To explore the molecular pathways underlying thiazolidinediones effects on pancreatic islets in conditions mimicking normo- and hyperglycemia, apoptosis rate and transcriptional response to Pioglitazone at both physiological and supraphysiological glucose concentrations were evaluated. Overall design: Adult rat islets were cultured at physiological (5.6 mM) and supraphysiological (23 mM) glucose concentrations in presence of 10 mM Pioglitazone or vehicle. RNA expression profiling was evaluated with the PancChip 13k cDNA microarray after 24-h, and expression results for some selected genes were validated by qRT-PCR.