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Utah's Foremost Platform for Undergraduate Research Presentation
2021 Abstracts

The Effects of NR4A1 on Insulin Secretion

Presenter: Drake Watkins, College of Life Science, Microbiology and Molecular Biology
Authors: Drake Watkins, Peter Ellsworth, Haokun Yang, Dr. Jeffery Tessem, Jacob Herring
Faculty Advisor: Jeffery Tessem, College of Life Sciences, Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Science
Institution: Brigham Young University

Diabetes affects hundreds of millions of people around the world today, as a result, researchers are working to swiftly identify the metabolic pathways that cause the progression of the disease. Several of these pathways share a common regulator, a member of the nuclear receptor family 4A, Nr4a1. Nr4a1 overexpression increases beta-cell mass and beta-cell proliferation. Additionally, Nr4a1 increases glucose absorption and insulin secretion. Inversely, some studies indicate that Nr4a1 has negative effects on insulin secretion. To resolve these contrasting claims, we are using a global Nr4a1 knockout (KO) mouse model. We present data using the Nr4a1 KO mouse looking at the effect on glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) and glucose tolerance tests. In addition, we present data using Ins-1 cell lines demonstrating the effects of Nr4a1 overexpression on GSIS and beta-cell function.