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. 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.