Morphology of the endocrine part of the pancreas of birds
Iaglov, V.V.
Arkhiv Anatomii Gistologii i Embriologii 72(1): 24-27
1977
ISSN/ISBN: 0004-1947 PMID: 326229 Document Number: 122263
Methods of light and EM were used to study the structural organization of the endocrine pancreas in birds (domestic ducks and chickens). The endocrine pancreas has 3 types of pancreatic islands: dark, light and mixed islands. Dark islands consist of A- and D-cells, light ones, of B and D-cells and mixed islands, of A-, B- and D-cells. The index of B/A-cell ratio is 0.39-0.4. Each B-cell corresponds to 4 A-cells. The counterinsular apparatus of birds became stronger in the process of evolution and resulting in a comparatively high level of glycemia. Availability of dark and light pancreatic islands indicates that in birds there occurred an environmentally adaptive partial disconnection of the insular and counterinsular components of the endocrine pancreas.