Acinar cells of the exocrine pancreas are tasked with synthesizing, packaging and secreting vast quantities of pro-digestive enzymes to maintain proper metabolic homeostasis for the organism. Because the synthesis of high levels of hydrolases is potentially dangerous, the pancreas is prone to acute pancreatitis (AP), a disease that targets acinar cells, leading to acinar-ductal metaplasia (ADM)...

The isolation of ribonucleic acid (RNA) suitable for gene expression studies is challenging in the pancreas, due to its high ribonuclease activity. This is even more complicated during pancreatitis, a condition associated with inflammation and fibrosis. Our aim was to implement a time-effective and reproducible protocol to isolate high quality RNA from specific pancreatic cell subtypes, in norm...

The development of acinar and ductal cells of the mouse submandibular gland was studied using field emission SEM, conventional TEM and HVTEM methods. The specimens, at 15 and 18 days of gestation and 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, 30, 90 and 180 postnatal days were fixed in 2.5% glutaraldehyde solution in 0.1 M sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.3). At 15 and 18 days of gestation, the structure of mouse submandib...

Thiamin is important for normal function of pancreatic acinar cells, but little is known about its mechanism of uptake and about the effect of chronic alcohol use on the process. We addressed these issues using freshly isolated rat primary and rat-derived cultured AR42J pancreatic acinar cells as models. Results showed thiamin uptake by both primary and cultured AR42J pancreatic acinar cells to...

Research has shown that androgens regulate the production of secretory component (SC), the IgA antibody receptor, by lacrimal gland acinar cells in vivo. This study was designed to establish an optimal culture system to permit analysis of this endocrine-acinar cell interrelationship in vitro. Acinar cells were isolated from male rat lacrimal glands and cultured on Matrigel (Collaborative Resear...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Because of the notion that pancreatic and duodenal homeobox 1 (PdX-1)-positive cells are pancreatic stem cells that contribute to the differentiation and proliferation of exocrine cells, we examined PdX-1-associated changes in the morphology of rat pancreatic acinar cells that occur between the late fetal and early neonatal periods. METHODS Light and electron microscopy and Pd...

Ghrelin was shown to exhibit protective and therapeutic effect in the gut. Aim of the study was to investigate the role of sensory nerves (SN) in the protective effect of ghrelin in acute pancreatitis (AP). Studies were performed on male Wistar rats or isolated pancreatic acinar cells. After capsaicin deactivation of sensory nerves (CDSN) or treatment with saline, rats were pretreated intraperi...

Previous studies show that culturing an immortalized human submandibular gland cell line (HSG) on Matrigel, a basement membrane extract, induces cytodifferentiation. We have further defined this model system and identified factors involved in HSG cell acinar development and cyto-differentiation. Acinar development is marked by cell migration into multi-cellular spherical structures, cell prolif...

CONTEXT Pancreatic acinar cell cultivation poses a serious problem due to limitations in the in vitro survival time despite variations of dissociation protocols, culture media and nutrient supplements. OBJECTIVE To establish a long term culture of murine pancreatic acinar cells which retain their viability, monolayer formation and responsiveness to secretagogues. In order to investigate the m...

Acute pancreatitis is a major health burden for which there are currently no targeted therapies. Premature activation of digestive proenzymes, or zymogens, within the pancreatic acinar cell is an early and critical event in this disease. A high-amplitude, sustained rise in acinar cell Ca(2+) is required for zymogen activation. We previously showed in a cholecystokinin-induced pancreatitis model...