Fig. 7. MIAMI cells can be induced to develop features resembling those of pancreatic islets. MIAMI cells growing as adherent cultures can be induced to grow in an attachment-independent fashion, forming spherical or oblong clusters (A,B). Grown under endodermal-promoting conditions (see Materials and Methods), (C) MIAMI cells can be induced to express transcripts for insulin and glucagon, assayed by PCR of reverse transcribed (+RT) or control (-RT) RNA isolated from control (Cont) or treated (Tx) MIAMI cells or islet-positive (hIslet) controls. These islet-specific transcripts were not expressed under uninduced conditions (not shown). Control (Cont) and treated (Tx) MIAMI cells expressed Beta2/NeuroD (295 bp), ISL1 (542 bp), and Nkx6.1 (239 bp) transcripts (C). In all cases, bands were detected after 25 amplification cycles. MW, molecular size markers; Fk, forskolin.