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Cytological and histological studies on the pancreatic islets of a diabetic strain of the mouse

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Summary

Cytological and histological observations have been made on the pancreatic islets of a diabetic (KK) strain of the mouse, and of control mice which belong to either C57BL/6 or ddN strains, and the following results were obtained.

  1. 1.

    In the pancreas of the diabetic mouse strain a certain number of irregularly contoured islets and occasional insular hypertrophy and hyperplasia are observed in contrast to the insular tissues of control animals.

  2. 2.

    The insular B cells of KK animals are seen to undergo cellular hypertrophy. The intracellular granules of this cell type are smaller in amount, colored darker and more coarse in size in KK individuals than in control animals.

  3. 3.

    In some insular tissues of KK mice there occur frequently varying degrees of sinusoidal dilatation of blood capillaries.

  4. 4.

    The cytoplasm of the insular A cells in KK animals is of a fine granulation which tends to be colored in a significantly less intense rose pink shade than that in control individuals.

  5. 5.

    The average proportion of the insulare A cells in KK mice is assumed to be strikingly small.

  6. 6.

    The dithizone reaction of the cytoplasm of the insular B cells in KK animals denotes the scarcity of the cellular zinc content.

  7. 7.

    The present morphological data on the pancreatic islets of the diabetic mouse strain have been discussed in relation to growth hormone secretion of the anterior pituitary of the animals.

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Acknowledgements. The author is indebted to Prof. Dr. Kaztjmaro Yamada for the guidance throughout this work. Further, he wishes to thank Profs. Drs. Kyoji Kondo and Tsutomu Sugahara for the supply of the experimental and control mice. Dr. Kazuyori Yamada's collaboration in the course of this investigation is gratefully acknowledged.

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Nakamura, M. Cytological and histological studies on the pancreatic islets of a diabetic strain of the mouse. Zeitschrift für Zellforschung 65, 340–349 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00345635

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