The Assessment of Beta Cell Mass during Gestational Life in the Mouse

Successful advancement in the treatment of diabetes mellitus is not possible without well-established methodology for beta cell mass calculation. Here, we offer the protocol to assess beta cell mass during embryonic development in the mouse. The described protocol has detailed steps on how to process extremely small embryonic pancreatic tissue, cut it on the cryostat, and stain tissue slides for microscopic analysis. The method does not require usage of confocal microscopy and takes advantage of enhanced automated image analysis with proprietary as well as open-source software packages.