The surface saccharide composition of collagenase-dispersed pancreatic cells from adult guinea pig and rat glands was examined by using eight lectins and their ferritin conjugates: Concanavalin A (ConA); Lens culinaris (LCL); Lotus tetragonolobus (LTL); Ricinus communis agglutinins I and II (RCA I, RCA II); Soybean agglutinin (SBA); Ulex europeus lectin (UEL); and wheat germ agglutinin (WGA). B...

Islets are composed mostly of beta-cells, and therefore stem cell research has concentrated on generating purified beta-cells, neglecting the other endocrine cell types in the islet. We investigated the presence of endocrine non-beta-cells after islet transplantation. In addition, we studied whether the transplantation of pure beta-cells, in volumes similar to that used in islet transplantation...

The nervous and endocrine systems jointly control intestinal movements, secretions of their glands and also participate of the processes of nutrient digestion and absorption. Therefore, the central objective of this study was to verify the existence of a possible relationship between the number of nervous cells and ganglia of the submucosal and myenteric plexuses and the number of endocrine cel...

The regional distribution and relative frequency of endocrine cells in the stomach and intestine of Phyllostomidae: Lonchorhina aurita and Molossidae: Molossus molossus bats were studied immunohistochemically. Three types of immunoreactive (IR) endocrine cells – to serotonin (5-HT), gastrin (GAS) and enteroglucagon (GLUC) – were found in the gastric mucosa and four types of IR cells were identi...

Abnormalities of gut endocrine responses, as well as changes in the number of different endocrine cell types, have been reported convincingly in coeliac patients. Nevertheless, no estimation of total numbers of gut endocrine cells has yet been made in well defined groups of coeliacs. In this study, we have visualised all endocrine cell types in jejunal biopsies from coeliac patients with active...

Aldh1 expression is known to mark candidate progenitor populations in adult and embryonic mouse pancreas, and Aldh1 enzymatic activity has been identified as a potent regulator of pancreatic endocrine differentiation in zebrafish. However, the location and identity of Aldh1-expressing cells in zebrafish pancreas remain unknown. In this study we demonstrate that Aldh1-expressing cells are locate...

The endocrine system refers to the cells and tissue that release hormones into the blood. Unlike synaptic chemical communication, which is localized to the target cell, endocrine communication is global. The hormones act on other endocrine glands such as the adrenal gland, ovaries, testes, and others, as well as on the heart, kidneys, muscle, and the brain. Mathematical modeling has been used t...

The regional distribution and relative frequency of endocrine cells in the stomach and intestine of Phyllostomidae: Lonchorhina aurita and Molossidae: Molossus molossus bats were studied immunohistochemically. Three types of immunoreactive (IR) endocrine cells--to serotonin (5-HT), gastrin (GAS) and enteroglucagon (GLUC)--were found in the gastric mucosa and four types of IR cells were identifi...

A better knowledge of the regulatory mechanisms involved in stem cell proliferation and/or differentiation could reveal new methods for the treatment of some diseases. Most previous studies in the field of stem cell biology have been carried out on cultured isolated cells. In the case of adult tissue stem cells, mesenchymal bone marrow derived cells have been most widely studied, while the undi...

Insulinoma associated 1 (Insm1) plays an important role in regulating the development of cells in the central and peripheral nervous systems, olfactory epithelium and endocrine pancreas. To better define the role of Insm1 in pancreatic endocrine cell development we generated mice with an Insm1 reporter allele and used them to study Insm1-expressing and null populations. Endocrine progenitor cel...