Summary
Studies on the developing mouse pancreas indicate that neuroectodermal cells from the neural crest, identifiable by their APUD-FIF characteristics, colonize the foregut at around the 10th day. Carried into the pancreatic anlagen, their primitive pleomorphic granules are progressively replaced by spherical granules which are ultimately (around 16 days) identifiable as of A, B or D type. — Insulin and glucagon are first demonstrable, by immunofluuorescence, at the 14th day, at which time zymogen granules are detectable by electron microscopy. — It is postulated that the neuroectodermal cell of the neural crest may be the precursor of some or all of the three known endocrine cells of the pancreatic islets. In the case of the A and D cells present evidence is considered sufficiently strong to make this a tenable hypothesis.
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Supported by Grants from the Wellcome Trust and the Cancer Campaign (CMH).
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Pearse, A.G.E., Polak, J.M. & Heath, C.M. Development, differentiation and derivation of the endocrine polypeptide cells of the mouse pancreas. Diabetologia 9, 120–129 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01230691
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01230691