Distribution, ontogeny and ultrastructure of somatostatin immunoreactive cells in the pancreas and gut

Summary

Somatostatin cells are numerous in the pancreas and digestive tract of mammals as well as birds. In the pancreas of chicken, cat and dog they occur in both the exocrine parenchyma and in the islets. In the rat and rabbit, somatostatin cells have a peripheral location in the islets, whereas in the cat, dog and man the cells are usually more randomly distributed. In the stomach of rabbits and pigs, somatostatin cells are more numerous in the oxyntic gland area than in the pyloric gland area, whereas the reverse is true for the cat, dog and man. In the cat, pig and man, somatostatin cells are fairly numerous in the duodenum, whereas in the rat, rabbit and dog they are few in this location. In the remainder of the intestines somatostatin cells are few but regularly observed. Somatostatin cells are numerous in the human fetal pancreas and gut. In the fetal rat, somatostatin cells first appear in the pancreas and duodenum (at about the 16–17th day of gestation) and subsequently in the remainder of the intestine. Somatostatin cells do not appear in the gastric mucosa until after birth. Three weeks after birth, somatostatin cells show the adult frequency of occurrence and pattern of distribution. In the chicken, somatostatin cells are numerous in the proventriculus, absent from the gizzard, abundant in the gizzard-duodenal junction (antrum), infrequent in the duodenum and virtually absent from the remainder of the intestines. No immunoreactive cells can be observed in the thyroid of any species nor in the ultimobranchial gland of the chicken. In the chick embryo, somatostatin cells are first detected in the pancreas and proventriculus (at about the 12th day of incubation). They appear in the remainder of the gut much later, in the duodenum at the 16th day, in the antrum at about the 19th day and still later in the lower small intestine. The ultrastructure of the somatostatin cells was studied in the chicken, rat, cat and man; the cells were identified by the consecutive semithin/ultrathin section technique. The somatostatin cells display the properties of the D cell. There was no difference in granule ultrastructure between somatostatin cells in the gut and the pancreas. The granules, which are the storage site of the peptide, are round, supplied with a tightly fitting membrane and have a moderately electron-dense, fine-granulated core. The mean diameter of the somatostatin granules is smallest in rat (155–170 nm) and largest in the chicken (270–290 nm).