Insulin Production Hampered by Intermittent Hypoxia via Impaired Zinc Homeostasis
Figure 3
Disturbed zinc and ZIP8 homeostasis.
(A) Western blot assay results on the whole cells harvested from both control and IH animals. ZIP8 protein concentration shows a noted decrease in the IH challenged group. When fractionated into cytoplasm and plasma membrane portions, (B) ZIP8 protein is expressed in the plasma membrane more than the cytoplasm portion. The IH group shows a lower density of ZIP8 in both cytoplasm and membrane. (C) Confocal images on beta cells demonstrate that ZIP8 transporters along the plasma membrane (indicated by pan-Cadherine protein resides in the membrane) markedly decreased after IH challenge. The bottom panel (D) shows that insulin expression also significantly decreased in the IH group. Scale bars indicate 5 µm. (E and F) Zinc taken up by the beta cells decreased in the IH group, yet not as much as the amount decreased in the siZIP8 treated cells (F). SCR indicates scrambled.