Phenotype Image Detail

Image

Caption

The Eif2ak3-deficient exocrine pancreas progressively loses acinar cells. Acinar cells are tightly packed in wild type (A, P20). In contrast, Eif2ak3^tm1Drc/Eif2ak3^tm1Drc acinar cells have become degranulated giving a light pink appearance to the cytoplasm in the pancreas (B, P20). The same phenotype is seen in acinar cell-specific Eif2ak3^tm1.1Drc/Eif2ak3^tm1.1Drc Tg(Ela1-cre)16Eps/0 mice (C, P19). D: Enlarged views of dying oncotic cells seen in B and C. Some cells have lost nuclear staining (upper arrow) while others retain nuclear staining (lower arrow). E: At P19, the Eif2ak3^tm1.1Drc/Eif2ak3^tm1.1Drc Tg(Ela1-cre)16Eps/0 mouse has already lost most of the exocrine pancreas although typically this degree of atrophy is not seen until 3-4 months of age. Arrows indicate examples of the small number of acini remaining. F: In older mice (P162), acinar cells have been replaced by other cell types including adipocytes. Only a few dark pink acini are seen. Islets (arrows) still maintain an apparent normal structure. The mouse also showed a normal glucose clearance rate. Red arrow indicates a few remaining acini. G: In some cases, mutant acinar cells dedifferentiate into duct-like structures (P31) with abnormally large centroacinar ducts (black arrows). In the beginning of this process, duct cells still contain zymogen granules (right panel, white arrow). In some of these duct-like structures, the presumptive acinar cells have completely lost zymogen granules (right panel, white arrow). H: Conditional deletion of the Eif2ak3 gene in 3 month old Eif2ak3^tm1.1Drc/Eif2ak3^tm1.1Drc Tg(Ela1-cre)16Eps/0 mice also results in the appearance of oncotic cells. Two oncotic acinar cells are enlarged (inset) with lower left still exhibiting nuclear staining while the cell in the upper right shows a nuclear ghost. Hematoxylin and eosin staining. Magnification: A-C, H, 200x; E, 100x; F, 80x, D,G, 600x.

Copyright

This image is from Iida K, BMC Cell Biol 2007;8():38, an open-access article, licensee BioMed Central Ltd. J:129974

Associated Alleles

Symbol	Name
Eif2ak3^tm1.1Drc	eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 alpha kinase 3; targeted mutation 1.1, Douglas R Cavener
Eif2ak3^tm1Drc	eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 alpha kinase 3; targeted mutation 1, Douglas R Cavener
Tg(Ela1-cre)16Eps	transgene insertion 16, Eric P Sandgren

Associated Genotypes

Allelic Composition	Genetic Background
Eif2ak3^tm1Drc/Eif2ak3^tm1Drc	involves: 129S6/SvEvTac
Eif2ak3^tm1.1Drc/Eif2ak3^tm1.1Drc Tg(Ela1-cre)16Eps/0	involves: 129S6/SvEvTac