The vitamin A-storing cells in the human and rat pancreas.
Vitamin A-storing cells with lipid droplets and fluorescence characteristic of vitamin A were observed in the normal human and rat pancreas, using light, fluorescence, and electron microscopy. Vitamin A-storing cells in the normal human pancreas, as well as in the rat pancreas, were located predominantly in a perivascular area, and had lipid droplets with a fluorescence characteristic of vitamin A, Pancreatic vitamin A-storing cells had more numerous jipid droplets and more distinct fluorescence of vitamin A in vitamin A-loaded rats than in normal rats. In the rat, hepatic vitamin A-storing cells contained significantly more lipid droplets and had more distinct vitamin A fluorescence than pancreatic vitamin A-storing cells. Pancreatic sections from human subjects with chronic alcoholic pancreatitis revealed abundant vitamin A-storing cells surrounded by collagen fibers in an area of fibrosis. These results indicate that vitamin A-storing cells are widely distributed in the normal human and rat pancreas, although pancreatic vitamin A-storing cells have less storage capacity for vitamin A than do hepatic cells. Vitamin A-storing cells, as well as fibroblasts, may participate in the development of pancreatic fibrosis in chronic alcoholic pancreatitis, similar to the way hepatic vitamin A-storing cells participate in hepatic fibrosis.
Ikejiri
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Department of Internal Medicine, Kurume University School of Medicine, Japan.
D000818:Animals; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology; D008297:Male; D010179:Pancreas / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000032:analysis*
D014801:Vitamin A