The Expression Of Paxillin During Rat Pancreas Development

We expected to use high-density microarray (Affymetrix) to analyzethe expression profiles of pancreas development. We generatedtranscriptional profiles of pancreatic tissue isolated from five biologicallysignificant stages of development: embryonic day (E) 12.5, E15.5, E18.5,newborn and adult pancreas. These analyses implicated that many genesrelated with pancreatic function were enriched in the later gestation whenislet architecture and function are gradually forming. The differentialexpression of paxillin mRNA was verified by RT-PCR. Moreover, thedifferential expression of paxillin protein was identified by westernblotting, with different expression profile against mRNA. Paxillinlocalized both in islets and exocrine pancreas, which was detected byimmunohistochemistry. Our present preliminary evidence suggested thatpaxillin might play roles in maintaining islet structure and function,especially in islet remodeling after birth.