Fibroblast growth factors (Fgfs) and their receptors have been implicated in embryonic pancreas development. Recently it was shown that Fgf10, a major ligand for the IIIb isoform of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (Fgfr2b), has an important regulatory role in early pancreas development. The aim of our study was to define the role of Fgfr2b in pancreas development by analyzing the phenotype ...

BACKGROUND Cystic neoplasms of the pancreas comprise 10%-15% of pancreatic cystic lesions, with the serous cystadenoms being the commonest. The association of exocrine and endocrine tumours of the pancreas unrelated to Von Hipple Lindau disease is very rare. Very few cases have been reported in the literature. We present another case of both these tumours in one patient. CASE PRESENTATION A f...

Endoderm cells undergo sequential fate choices to generate insulin-secreting beta cells. Ezh2 of the PRC2 complex, which generates H3K27me3, modulates the transition from endoderm to pancreas progenitors, but the role of Ezh2 and H3K27me3 in the next transition to endocrine progenitors is unknown. We isolated endoderm cells, pancreas progenitors, and endocrine progenitors from different staged ...

Using a unique injury model of the pancreas in mouse, Xu et al. (2008) now reveal the involvement of neurogenin3, a marker for embryonic-type endocrine progenitor cells, in the formation of new insulin-producing beta cells. These neurogenin3-positive facultative endocrine progenitor cells in the adult pancreas may be of potential value for treating diabetes.

BACKGROUND/AIMS Multifocal lesions of the pancreas generally require a total pancreatectomy. However, total pancreatectomy causes severe and permanent pancreatic endocrine and exocrine insufficiency. The aim of this study was to review our experiences of combined resection of the pancreas as an alternative to total pancreatectomy. METHODOLOGY From July 2004 to July 2011, 5 patients were indic...

To better understand the relationship between the endocrine and exocrine cell types in the Xenopus pancreas, we have cloned the Xenopus amylase cDNA and compared its expression profile with that of four other pancreatic markers: insulin, glucagon, elastase and trypsinogen. Our results demonstrate that the first pancreatic marker to be expressed is insulin, exclusively in the dorsal pancreas. Th...

This study examines, at the ultrastructural level, whether the fetal porcine endocrine pancreas (insulin, glucagon, somatostatin, and pancreatic polypeptide [PP]- and islet amyloid polypeptide [IAPP]-containing cells) develops normally after transplantation under the kidney capsule in athymic mice. We have thus used an in vivo pig-to-mouse model for the differentiation of the endocrine pancreas...

Key parameters of the endocrine pancreas, such as islet number, islet mass, beta-cell mass, and alpha-cell mass, were studied in different strains of inbred mice to investigate the impact of genetic background on the size and structure of the endocrine pancreas. Six mice from each of seven different strains of inbred mice were included in the study. For all parameters investigated, there was a ...

Myelin transcription factor 1 (Myt1) is one of the three vertebrate C2HC-type zinc finger transcription factors that include Myt1 (Nzf1), Myt1L (Png1), and Myt3 (Nzf3, St18). All three paralogs are widely expressed in developing neuronal cells. Yet their function for mammalian development has not been investigated directly. Here we report that only Myt1 is expressed in the embryonic pancreas, i...

Cell division and cell differentiation are intricately regulated processes vital to organ development. Cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks) are master regulators of the cell cycle that orchestrate the cell division and differentiation programs. Cdk1 is essential to drive cell division and is required for the first embryonic divisions, whereas Cdks 2, 4 and 6 are dispensable for organogenesis but vit...