Inducing and measuring apoptotic cell death in mouse pancreatic β-cells and in isolated islets

Type 2 diabetes is mediated by insulin resistance and pancreatic β-cell failure, the latter reflecting a combination of β-cell dysfunction, dedifferentiation, and apoptosis. Quantification of β-cell apoptosis in diabetes can be challenging both with respect to methodology and selection of clinically relevant inducers and readouts. This protocol describes approaches to measure cell death in immortalized β-cells, primary mouse islet preparations, and pancreatic tissue. The resulting information may be useful for mechanistic studies and assessment of the contribution of β-cell death to pathogenesis. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to McKimpson et al. (2021).