Figure 5.
Analysis of hormone levels in HNF3α mutant mice. Offspring (F1 hybrids) from matings between heterozygous mice were sacrificed on postnatal day 8 and plasma hormone levels determined as described in Materials and Methods. The glucagon values for the homozygous mutant mice (−/−) were obtained from plasma pooled from three animals each because of the small size of the mutants. (A) Insulin, (B) corticosteroids, (C) glucagon. Values are means ± standard error (number of n indicated in parenthesis), differences among +/+ or +/− and −/− hormone levels were statistically significant (P < 0.01 for insulin and cortocosteroids; P < 0.05 for glucagon) by Student’s t-test. (D) Glucagon mRNA is reduced in the pancreas of HNF3α mutant mice. Total RNA (10 μg) from pancreas of wild type (+/+) or homozygous mutants (−/−) was separated on denaturing agarose gels, blotted onto nylon membrane and hybridized to the probes indicated.