Summary
Treatment of vertebrate pancreatic islet tissue with hydrogen sulphide, thus initiating the sulphide-silver procedure for ultrastructural visualization of heavy metals in tissues, evoked marked swelling in zinc-containing secretion granules of β-cells in several species rapidly leading to disruption of many granules. Other organelles of the β-cells were unaffected, as also were the secretion granules of adjacent zinc-containing α2-cells. Likewise, β-and α2-granules with no heavy metals or only traces of them, like those of the guinea pig and the coypu, were all well preserved after gassing with hydrogen sulphide. It is suggested that this observation may give some information on insulin-zinc-sulphydryl relationships in vivo.
Résumé
Le traitement des îlots pancréatiques de plusieurs espèces de vertébrés avec de l'hydrogène sulfuré, constituant ainsi la phase initiale de la méthode sulfure-argent pour la visualisation ultrastructurale des métaux lourds dans les tissus, provoquait un gonflement marqué des granules de sécrétion zincifères des cellules β dans plusieurs espèces, conduisant rapidement à la rupture de beaucoup de granules. D'autres organelles des cellules β restaient intacts, ainsi que les granules de sécrétion des cellules α2 zincifères voisines. De même, les granules β et α2 sans ou avec seulement des traces de métaux lourds, comme ceux du cobaye et du nutria, étaient bien conservés après le gazage avec l'hydrogène sulfuré. — On suggère que cette observation peut donner quelques aspects sur les relations insuline-zinc-sulfhydryl in vivo.
Zusammenfassung
Behandlung mehrerer Arten von pankreatischem Inselgewebe von Wirbeltieren mit Schwefelwasserstoff, womit die Sulfid-Silber-Methode zur ultrastrukturellen Darstellung von Gewebe-Schwermetallen eingeleitet wird, verursacht eine ausgesprochene Anschwellung der zinkhaltigen Sekretionsgranula der β-Zellen, die schnell zum Zerfall der Granula führt. Andere Zellorganellen der β-Zellen waren nicht beschädigt, auch nicht die Sekretionsgranula der benachbarten α2-Zellen. Ebenfalls waren β- und α2-Granula mit keinen oder nur Spuren von Schwermetallen, wie die des Meerschweinchens und der Nutria, alle wohlbehalten nach der Behandlung mit Schwefelwasserstoff. — Als eine Arbeitshypothese für zukünftige Untersuchungen wird angedeutet, daß diese Beobachtung von Bedeutung in Bezug auf die Insulin-Zink-Sulfhydryl-Verhältnisse sein kann.
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Paper read at the Meeting of the Scandinavian Society for Diabetes Research in Stockholm, February 1–3, 1968.
This work was supported by grants from the Swedish Medical Research Council (Project Nr. K68-12X-718-03), the Nordic Insulin Fund, and the Medical Faculty, University of Umeå.
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Falkmer, S., Pihl, E. Structural lability of zinc-containing secretion granules of pancreatic β-cells after exposure to hydrogen sulphide. Diabetologia 4, 239–243 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00430102
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00430102