Do pancreatic endocrine stem cells exist?
Chodorowski, Z.; Kaletha, K.; Sein Anand, J.
Przeglad Lekarski 62(6): 624
2005
ISSN/ISBN: 0033-2240 PMID: 16225140 Document Number: 593650
After the transplantation of hearts from female donors into male recipients, cells migrating from the host to the transplanted heart demonstrate the presence of the Y chromosome (up to 18 percent of all cardiomyocytes). Most probably, this kind of migration occurs in all transplantations. However, postnatal origins of pancreatic beta-cells remain still controversial. The extensive experiments on mice question the existence of adult pancreatic endocrine stem cells. In our opinion one of the methods to elucidate this still open problem is carrying out the similar investigation in sex-mismatched transplanted pancreas. The finding of the chromosome Y in Langerhans islets taken from a male recipient's pancreas which has been transplanted from a female donor can confirm the existence of pancreatic endocrine stem cells.