Modifications of the endocrine pancreas in rats after ethionine destruction of acini
Michel, C.; Chariot, J.; Souchard, M.; Rozé, C.
Cellular and Molecular Biology 28(1): 135-148
1982
ISSN/ISBN: 0145-5680 PMID: 7044548 Document Number: 192647
Male Wistar rats received daily injections of ethionine for 7 days (D1-D7), coupled with a protein-free diet, a treatment known to produce extensive lesions of acinar tissue. Rats were kileld 1 (D8) to 13 (D20) days after cessation of the treatment and the pancreas was studied with biochemical, histological, immunocytochemical and EM methods. Pancreatic enzyme contents were lowest at D10 and then increased steadily. Thirteen days after cessation of treatment (D20), the activities of exocrine enzymes per milligram protein were normal, while total protein content and pancreatic weight remained lower than in controls. Acute histological lesions were maximal at D8 and disappeared in 5 days. Quantitative determination of endocrine cells showed that the area covered by insulin cells in ethionine-treated rats was increased, as was the number of endocrine cells found isolated in the exocrine parenchyma and in the small ducts. The increase of endocrine tissue was maximal at D10, 3 days after cessation of ethionine treatment. Endocrine cells were apparently newly formed, primarily from the epithelium of small ducts. There was a transient burst of endocrine differentiation from ductal epithelium following a treatment which destroyed primarily acinar cells as well as exocrine regeneration. The hypothetical ductal pancreatic stem-cell may still possess some differentiation capacity in adults.