title: The endocrine pancreas of a squamate reptile, the desert lizard (Chalcides ocellatus). A histological and immunocytochemical investigation.
abstract: The endocrine pancreas of the desert lizard (Chalcides ocellatus) was investigated histologically and immunocytochemically. The endocrine tissue was concentrated in the dorsal lobe, where it constituted about 7% of the total volume. In the ventral lobe the endocrine tissue formed approximately 1% of the total volume. Four endocrine cell types were observed in the pancreas of this species, namely insulin-, glucagon-, somatostatin- and pancreatic polypeptide (PP)-immunoreactive cells. The volume occupied by these cells was 1, 1, 0.6 and 0.3% of the total volume of the pancreas, respectively. Insulin-immunoreactive cells were located in the islet centre and comprised 3% of dorsal and 0.2% of the ventral lobe volume. Glucagon cells occurred at the islet periphery and amounted to 3 and 0.2% of the volume of the dorsal and ventral lobes, respectively. Somatostatin-immunoreactive cells were located at the islet periphery as well as in between the exocrine parenchyma. They constituted 1 and 0.2% of the volume of the dorsal and ventral lobes, respectively. PP-immunoreactive cells occurred mainly among the exocrine parenchyma as solitary cells. They formed only 0.03% of the volume of the dorsal lobe. The corresponding figure in the ventral lobe was 0.6%.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005934:Glucagon / Q000032:analysis; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007328:Insulin / Q000032:analysis; D007515:Islets of Langerhans / Q000032:analysis / Q000166:cytology*; D008116:Lizards / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008297:Male; D010187:Pancreatic Hormones / Q000032:analysis*; D010191:Pancreatic Polypeptide / Q000032:analysis; D013004:Somatostatin / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin; D010187:Pancreatic Hormones; D013004:Somatostatin; D010191:Pancreatic Polypeptide; D005934:Glucagon