Quantitative Analysis of Pancreatic Polypeptide Cell Distribution in the Human Pancreas

Xiaojun Wang, Mark C Zielinski, Ryosuke Misawa, Patrick Wen, Tian-Yuan Wang, Cheng-Zhang Wang, Piotr Witkowski and Manami Hara

PLOS ONE, 2013, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: The pancreatic islet is mainly composed of beta-, alpha- and delta-cells with small numbers of pancreatic polypeptide (PP) and epsilon cells. It is known that there is a region in the head of the pancreas that is rich in PP-cells. In the present study, we examined the distribution of PP-cells, and assessed the influence of the PP-cell rich region to quantify the total islet mass. Pancreatic tissues were collected from donors with no history of diabetes or pancreatic diseases (n = 12). A stereological approach with a computer-assisted large-scale analysis of whole pancreatic sections was applied to quantify the entire distribution of endocrine cells within a given section. The initial whole pancreas analysis showed that a PP-cell rich region was largely restricted to the uncinate process with a clear boundary. The distinct distribution of PP-cells includes irregularly shaped clusters composed solely of PP-cells. Furthermore, in the PP-cell rich region, beta- and alpha-cell mass is significantly reduced compared to surrounding PP-cell poor regions. The results suggest that the analysis of the head region should distinguish the PP-cell rich region, which is best examined separately. This study presents an important implication for the regional selection and interpretation of the results.

Date: 2013
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0055501

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0055501

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