It is presented the case of a 44-year-old woman with ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreatic head with associated dorsal pancreas agenesis. In this case, curative intent surgery implies removal of the whole pancreas with its consequences--parental insulin requirement and exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. A review of the literature on the previously reported cases was performed.

The pancreas develops from the endoderm to give rise to ducts, acini and islets of Langerhans. This process involves extracellular signals of the Transforming Growth Factor beta (TGFbeta) family. The aim of this work was to study the effects of activin A, a member of this family, whose potential role in pancreas differentiation is controversial. To this end, we used pancreatic explants from E12...

OBJECTIVE The Cohen diabetes-sensitive rat develops postprandial hyperglycemia when fed a high-sucrose, copper-poor diet, whereas the Cohen diabetes-resistant rat maintains normoglycemia. The pathophysiological basis of diabetes was studied in the Cohen diabetic rat centering on the interplay between the exocrine and endocrine compartments of the pancreas. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Studies ...

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease unclassified (IBDU) is considered to be an aberrant immune response with loss of tolerance to many antigens. Objective: This paper tries to address whether there is any value to test for auto-antibodies in such patients. Methods: 60 patients with inflammatory bowel disease unclassified participated in the study. Auto-antibodies to nuclear antigen, intestin...

Although both endocrine and the exocrine pancreas display a significant capacity for tissue regeneration and renewal, the existence of progenitor cells in the adult pancreas remains uncertain. Using a model of cerulein-mediated injury and repair, we demonstrate that mature exocrine cells, defined by expression of an Elastase1 promoter, actively contribute to regenerating pancreatic epithelium t...

Cells of the exocrine pancreas produce digestive enzymes potentially harmful to the intestinal mucosa. Dopamine has been reported to protect against mucosal injury. In looking for the source of dopamine in the small intestine, we found that the duodenal juice contains high levels of dopamine and that the pancreas itself has a high dopamine [and dihydroxyphenylalanine (dopa)] content that does n...

Aquaporins comprise a family of 13 members of water channels (AQP0-12) that facilitate a rapid transport of water across cell membranes. In some cases, these pores are also permeated by small solutes, particularly glycerol, urea or nitric oxide, among other solutes. Several aquaporins have been identified in the pancreas, an exocrine and endocrine organ that plays an essential role in the onset...

lary circulation and thereby reduces islet perfusion. Interestingly, in tropical countries and India a special form of non-alcoholic tropical calcifying pancreatitis leads to DM. Although little is known about the exact etiology of this form of diabetes it has been found that the -cell function is damaged whereas the  cells are preserved [6, 7] . This is in contrast to the non-tropical chronic...

Isl1 is a LIM homeobox transcription factor showing conserved expression in the developing and mature vertebrate pancreas. So far, functions of pancreatic Isl1 have mainly been studied in the mouse, where Isl1 has independent functions during formation of exocrine and endocrine tissues. Here, we take advantage of a recently described isl1 mutation in zebrafish to address pancreatic isl1 functio...

The pancreas plays an important role in the homeostasis of zinc (Zn), a nutritionally essential metal. In several previous studies, Zn ions induced inflammatory changes exocrine pancreas; however, little is known about complexes. this study, we microscopically, immunohistochemically, and ultrastructurally examined pancreatic lesions Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats by 4-week repeated oral dose toxicity...