In the present study, pancreas glands in Mehraban breed of female sheep were histomorphometricallystudied in four different age groups included: fetus, newborn, sexually mature and old ages. The results ofhistomorphometrical analysis with regard to frequency and percentage of parenchymal and stromal structures such as, exocrine secretory units, secretory ducts, blood vessels, islets of Langerha...

Glucose metabolism is highly dependent on hormones secreted by the islets of La ngerhans, and most notably on insulin. Moreover, the endocrine and exocrine pancreas has a complex anatomical and functional interaction. The exocrine part of the pancreas is influenced by the islet hormones mainly through an islet-acinar portal system, for example, the periinsular acinar cells are larger and contai...

Endocrine and exocrine pancreas tissues are both derived from the posterior foregut endoderm, however, the interdependence of these two cell types during their formation is not well understood. In this study, we generated mutant mice, in which the exocrine tissue is hypoplastic, in order to reveal a possible requirement for exocrine pancreas tissue in endocrine development and/or function. Sinc...

The Notch-signaling pathway is known to be fundamental in controlling pancreas differentiation. We now report on using Cre-based fate mapping to indelibly label pancreatic Notch-responsive cells (PNCs) at larval stages and follow their fate in the adult pancreas. We show that the PNCs represent a population of progenitors that can differentiate to multiple lineages, including adult ductal cells...

A 52-yr-old man presented with hematuria and clot retention. He had undergone simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation with exocrine pancreas bladder drainage 16 yr ago. The patient suffered from progressive transplant kidney failure with gradually decreasing urine output and needed hemodialysis every other day. Gross hematuria persisted after removal of all blood clots. Cystoscopy showed m...

Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) is an autosomal syndrome caused by mutations in the MEN1 tumor suppressor gene. Whereas the protein product of MEN1, menin, is ubiquitously expressed, somatic loss of the remaining wild-type MEN1 allele results in tumors primarily in parathyroid, pituitary, and endocrine pancreas. To understand the endocrine specificity of the MEN1 syndrome, we evaluat...

Incretin-based therapies are widely used for type 2 diabetes and now also for obesity, but they are associated with elevated plasma levels of pancreatic enzymes and perhaps a modestly increased risk of acute pancreatitis. However, little is known about the effects of the incretin hormone glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) on the exocrine pancreas. Here, we identify GLP-1 receptors on pancreatic ac...

The role of nitric oxide (NO) in the human pancreas and in pancreatitis still remains controversial. Furthermore, conflicting conclusions have been reached by different laboratories about the localization of the NO-generating enzyme (NO synthase, NOS) in the pancreas. Here, we investigated the co-expression of NOS with enzymes involved in regulation of NO signalling in the normal human pancreas...

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are associated with functional beta cell loss due to ongoing inflammation. Despite shared similarities, T1D is an autoimmune disease with evidence of autoantibody production, as well as a role for exocrine pancreas involvement. Our hypothesis is that differential protein expression occurs in disease stratified pancreas tissues and regulated protei...

Stimulation of digestive organs by enteric peptides is lost during total parental nutrition (PN). Here we examine the role of the enteric peptide bombesin (BBS) in stimulation of the exocrine and endocrine pancreas during PN. BBS protects against exocrine pancreas atrophy and dysfunction caused by PN. BBS also augments circulating insulin levels, suggesting an endocrine pancreas phenotype. Whil...