title: Isolation and characterization of islet stellate cells in rat.
abstract: The central role of PSCs in pancreatic fibrogenesis is well established. However, the mechanism responsible for the islet fibrosis presenting in the late stage of T2DM has not been fully elucidated. This study was designed to determine whether the endocrine pancreatic islets contain cells resembling PSCs. PSCs were isolated from pancreas using standard explants techniques. A similar method was used to acquire ISCs. Adherent ISCs with a stellate, angular morphology migrated from the edge of cultured islets within 48 h of primary culture. ISCs contained fewer lipid droplets than equivalent PSCs, and their rapid disappearance accompanied by the increased expression of α-SMA suggested that ISCs were more rapidly activated than PSCs in vitro. They expressed α-SMA, vimentin, GFAP and were positive for ECM components col-I, col-III and FN, all of which are characteristics of classical PSCs. However, ISCs differed from PSCs by having reduced rates of proliferation and migration in vitro. Our in vitro study shows that isolated islets contain a population of stellate cells which are phenotypically similar but not identical to PSCs. In view of the established role of PSCs in pancreatic fibrosis, we suggest that these may contribute to islet fibrosis in T2DM.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Endocrinology; Zhongda Hospital; Institute of Diabetes; Medical School; Southeast University; Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zha
authors.forename: Fengfei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Bijun
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zilin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000032:analysis; D000818:Animals; D002465:Cell Movement; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D024042:Collagen Type I / Q000032:analysis; D024061:Collagen Type III / Q000032:analysis; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000473:pathology*; D005353:Fibronectins / Q000032:analysis; D005355:Fibrosis / Q000473:pathology; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000032:analysis; D007515:Islets of Langerhans / Q000166:cytology*; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D010179:Pancreas / Q000473:pathology*; D058954:Pancreatic Stellate Cells / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014746:Vimentin / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D024042:Collagen Type I; D024061:Collagen Type III; D005353:Fibronectins; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D014746:Vimentin; C498862:Acta2 protein, rat
keywords: ISC; PSC; islet; islet stellate cell; pancreatic stellate cell