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Different ghrelin localisation in adult human and rat endocrine pancreas

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Abstract

Ghrelin is an endocrine peptide that has been identified in gastric oxyntic glands and that induces growth hormone secretion in the pituitary gland. This growth hormone secretagogue is expressed in many tissues such as stomach, pituitary gland, thyroid, testis, placenta and pancreas. Initial studies of ghrelin focused on its role as a circulating orexigenic signal. However, ghrelin has also been found to be involved in the modulation of glucose homeostasis. Although a number of studies have reported ghrelin expression in developing pancreas, the location of ghrelin-immunoreactive cells in adult pancreas (epsilon cells) remains controversial. In this study, we have analysed the distribution of pancreatic epsilon cells in adult human and rat islets by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridisation. In humans, our immunohistochemical analysis has shown that ghrelin is expressed in glucagon-secreting cells, whereas in rats, it is present in insulin-secreting cells. Similar observations have been revealed by in situ hybridisation.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted to Mrs. Berta Suarez Blanco and Mrs. Mercedes Rivas Cascallar for their excellent technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Inserm U 1052/CNRS UMR 5286, Claude Bernard University, Lyon, France

    Kawtar Raghay, Jean-Yves Scoazec & Gérard Morel

  2. Department of Morphological Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Kawtar Raghay, Rosalia Gallego & Tomas Garcia-Caballero

  3. Inserm U 1052/CNRS UMR 5286, Bâtiment R. Dubois, Université Claude Bernard, 43 Blvd du 11 novembre 1918, 69622, Villeurbanne cedex, France

    Gérard Morel

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  1. Kawtar Raghay
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  2. Rosalia Gallego
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  3. Jean-Yves Scoazec
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  4. Tomas Garcia-Caballero
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  5. Gérard Morel
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Correspondence to Gérard Morel.

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This work was supported by the Xunta de Galicia (grant no. PGIDIT02PXIB20801PR).

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Raghay, K., Gallego, R., Scoazec, JY. et al. Different ghrelin localisation in adult human and rat endocrine pancreas. Cell Tissue Res 352, 487–494 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-013-1593-y

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