Endocrine pancreas-specific Gclc gene deletion causes a severe diabetes phenotype.

Reduced glutathione (GSH) is an abundant antioxidant that regulates intracellular redox homeostasis by scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS). Glutamate-cysteine ligase catalytic (GCLC) subunit is the rate-limiting step in GSH biosynthesis. Using the Pax6-Cre driver mouse line, we deleted expression of the Gclc gene in all pancreatic endocrine progenitor cells. Intriguingly, Gclc knockout (KO) mice, following weaning, exhibited an age-related, progressive diabetes phenotype, manifested as strikingly increased blood glucose and decreased plasma insulin levels. This severe diabetes trait is preceded by pathologic changes in islet of weanling mice. Gclc KO weanlings showed progressive abnormalities in pancreatic morphology including: islet-specific cellular vacuolization, decreased islet-cell mass, and alterations in islet hormone expression. Islets from newly-weaned mice displayed impaired glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, decreased insulin hormone gene expression, oxidative stress, and increased markers of cellular senescence. Our results suggest that GSH biosynthesis is essential for normal development of the mouse pancreatic islet, and that protection from oxidative stress-induced cellular senescence might prevent abnormal islet-cell damage during embryogenesis.