Use of coelenterazine for imaging insulin-generating beta-cells
OwnerLaura Bronsart, Christopher Contag +1inventors
InventorsLaura Bronsart, Christopher Contag, Christian Stokes
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Abstract
There is a need for a broadly applicable, strain non-specific, bioluminescent imaging tool that will enable researchers to study a β-cell mass in the context of development, disease or transplantation. The disclosure, therefore, encompasses embodiments of a method of identifying a non-diabetic pancreatic β-cell, the method comprising the steps of: delivering to a pancreatic β-cell a composition comprising a coelenterazine; allowing the β-cell to generate a coelenterazine-dependent bioluminescent signal; and identifying the cell as a non-diabetic pancreatic β-cell by detecting the emitted coelenterazine-dependent bioluminescent signal.
Claims4
A method of identifying a non-diabetic pancreatic β-cell, the method comprising the steps of:
- delivering to a pancreatic β-cell a composition comprising a coelenterazine;
- allowing the β-cell to generate a coelenterazine-dependent bioluminescent signal;
- and
- identifying the cell as a non-diabetic pancreatic β-cell by detecting the emitted coelenterazine-dependent bioluminescent signal.
A method of imaging non-diabetic pancreatic β-cells in the pancreas of a mammalian subject, comprising:
- (i) administering a pharmaceutically acceptable composition comprising coelenterazine and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier to a first mammal;
- (ii) allowing the coelenterazine to be delivered to the pancreas of the first mammal;
- (iii) generating an image of a coelenterazine-dependent bioluminescent signal by the first mammal;
- (iv) repeating the steps (i)-(iii) on a second mammal, wherein the second mammalian subject is a non-diabetic animal;
- and
- (v) determining that the first mammal has a reduced population of β-cells and a substantial likelihood of being diabetic by determining the relative intensities of the images derived from the first and second mammals, whereby a reduction in the intensity of the detectable bioluminescent signal from the first mammal compared to the intensity of the signal from the second mammal indicates that the first mammal has a reduced population of β-cells and has a substantial likelihood of being diabetic.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.