Single-cell RNA-seq uncovers the pathological alterations of pancreatic islets in type 2 diabetes mice

Pancreatic islet beta cell heterogeneity has been identified, which plays a pivotal role in the pathological alterations of pancreatic islets in type 2 diabetes (T2D) mice. However, pathological alterations of beta cells in type 2 diabetes (T2D) mice remain to be investigated. We isolated pancreatic islets from the control and T2D mice and conducted scRNA-seq analysis using the 10x Genomics platform. Pathological alterations of beta cells in T2D were also explored. Overall design: The Lepr knockout mouse model was used. The islets were isolated from three control (BKS_WT; m/m) and three type 2 diabetes (BKS_DB; db/db) mice at ages of 9 weeks. The isolated islets were cultured overnight and enzymatically digested to generate single-cell suspensions for scRNA-seq.