Microscopic study of the rat pancreas after denervation

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to demonstrate that the denervation of the pancreas may affect the enteric neuronal plexus, which controls both the endocrine and exocrine parts of the pancreas. By using the light microscope, the histological changes of the islets of Langerhans and the pancreatic acini in the rat pancreas were studied two and three weeks after sympathectomy and truncal vagotomy. More-over, measurements of the changes infasting blood glucose levels and glucose tolerance tests in the control and experimental animals were recorded. Atrophic changes and degeneration of the pancreatic acinar cells and islets of Langerhans cells were observed after both sympathectomy and vagotomy. Biochemical measurements of fasting blood, and the glucose tolerance tests after sympathectomy and vagotomy were increased significantly, which is consistent with the histological results. The results of this study explain that the exocrine and endocrine parts of the pancreas are dependent on both sympathetic and parasympathetic innervation via the enteric plexuses of the rat pancreas. These results establish a firm correlation between the autonomic innervation and the enteric plexus, which controls the function of the endocrine and exocrine parts of the pancreas

RESUMEN

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