Cells immunoreactive to insulin(INS-IR) and neuropeptide Y(NPY-IR) were found in prenatal(E15, 17, 19) and postnatal(P0, 5, 10, 15, 30, adult) rat pancreas using immunohistochemistry. Pancreatic INS-IR and NPY-IR were detected by day E17. They were fo...
Cells immunoreactive to insulin(INS-IR) and neuropeptide Y(NPY-IR) were found in prenatal(E15, 17, 19) and postnatal(P0, 5, 10, 15, 30, adult) rat pancreas using immunohistochemistry. Pancreatic INS-IR and NPY-IR were detected by day E17. They were found initially in the interlobular pancreatic duct, intralobular pancreatic duct and pancreatic islet gradually. Especially, INS-IR was detected in the dorsal pancreatic bud by day E19. The INS-IR and NPY-IR patterns were nearly similiar to each other, and many cells revealed colocalization of INS and NPY until day P10. But there was a change between them by the day P15 ; central INS-IR cells and peripheral NPY-IR in the pancreatic islet. The number of pancreatic islets per square millimeter of pancreatic tissue were decreased, and the number of immunoreactive endocrine cells per islet was increased according to development. These results suggest NPY may play a role in the development of the pancreatic endocrine cells.