Summary
Quantitative morphometry of the pancreases of five ‘maturity-onset’ diabetic subjects has demonstrated more amyloid in islets of the head, body and tail (where it was found in a mean 29% of the islets occupying a mean 11% islet area) than in islets of the ‘pancreatic-polypeptide-rich’ lobule of the head (where amyloid was found in a mean of 3% of the islets occupying a mean of 0.7% islet area, both p< 0.005). The nonuniform amyloid distribution may relate to the hormone content of the islet; the head and tail contained significantly more A, B and D-cells than the pancreatic-polypeptide-rich lobule in both non-diabetic subjects (n = 8) and diabetic patients (n = 5; p<0.005). This result is compatible with the previous suggestion that amyloid may be derived from insulin or its precursors.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Westermark P, Wilander E (1983) Islet amyloid in Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes is related to insulin. Diabetologia 24: 342–346
Westermark P, Wilander E (1978) The influence of amyloid deposits on the islet volume in maturity-onset diabetes mellitus. Diabetologia 15: 417–421
Westermark P, Grimeluis L, Polak JM, Larsson L-I, Van Noorden S, Wilander E, Pearse AGE (1977) Amyloid in polypeptide hormone producing tumours. Lab Invest 37: 212–215
Nakane PK, Pierce GB (1967) Enzyme labelled antibodies for the light and electron microscopic localization of tissue antigens. J Cell Biol 33: 307–318
Malaisse-Lagae F, Stefan Y, Cox J, Perrelet A, Orci L (1979) Identification of a lobe in the adult human pancreas rich in pancreatic polypeptide. Diabetologia 17: 361–365
Pearse AGE, Ewen SWB, Polak JM (1972) The genesis of apudamyloid in endocrine polypeptide tumours: histochemical distinction from immunamyloid. Virchows Arch (Abt B) 10: 93–107
Sletten K, Westermark P, Natvig JB (1976) Characterization of amyloid fibril proteins from medullary carcinoma of the thyroid. J Exp Med 143: 993–998
Westermark P (1973) Fine structure of islets of Langerhans in insulin amyloidosis. Virchows Arch (Abt A) 359: 1–18
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Clark, A., Holman, R.R., Matthews, D.R. et al. Non-uniform distribution of islet amyloid in the pancreas of ‘maturity-onset’ diabetic patients. Diabetologia 27, 527–528 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00290389
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00290389