Zinc is a key component of several proteins, interacting with the pancreatic hormones insulin and amylin. The role of zinc in insulin oligomerization and crystallinity is well established, although the effects of dietary zinc restriction on both energetic metabolism and β-pancreatic hormonemia and morphology remain unexplored. Here we report the effects of dietary zinc restriction on the endocrine pancreas and metabolic phenotype of mice. Nontransgenic male Swiss mice were fed a low-zinc or control diet for 4 weeks after weanling. Growth, glycemia, insulinemia and amylinemia were lower and pancreatic islets were smaller in the intervention group despite the preserved insulin crystallinity in secretory granules. We found strong immunostaining for insulin, amylin and oligomers in apoptotic pancreatic islet. High production of β-pancreatic hormones in zinc-restricted animals counteracted the reduced islet size caused by apoptosis. These data suggest that zinc deficiency is sufficient to promote islet β-cell hormonal disruption and degeneration.

中文翻译：

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饮食中锌的限制会促进小鼠内分泌胰腺的变性。

锌是几种蛋白质的关键成分，可与胰激素胰岛素和胰岛淀粉样多肽相互作用。锌在胰岛素低聚和结晶中的作用已被很好地确立，尽管饮食中锌的限制对能量代谢和β-胰腺激素和形态的影响尚待探索。在这里，我们报告饮食锌限制对小鼠的内分泌胰腺和代谢表型的影响。非转基因雄性瑞士小鼠断奶后喂养低锌或对照饮食，持续4周。尽管分泌颗粒中的胰岛素结晶度得以维持，但干预组的生长，血糖，胰岛素血症和淀粉样蛋白血症较低，胰岛较小。我们在凋亡的胰岛中发现了针对胰岛素，胰岛淀粉样多肽和寡聚体的强免疫染色。锌限制动物中高产的β-胰激素抵消了由凋亡引起的胰岛大小的减少。这些数据表明锌缺乏足以促进胰岛β细胞激素的破坏和变性。