Abstract
The pancreatic epithelium of rabbits is permeable to both sucrose and inulin and becomes more permeable when protein secretion by the gland is stimulated. Because these molecules are not thought to enter cells, it has been assumed that their movement across the epithelium from interstitial to ductal fluid, and the increase in that flux that is observed during augmented protein secretion, is due to their passage through paracellular shunts. In the present experiments the alternative possibility that sucrose and inulin travel through the cells of the secretory epithelium instead of, or in addition to, their passage through paracellular shunts was considered. The data support this view and suggest that the pancreas is unusually permeable to water soluble molecules of substantial size by means of a transcellular pathway.

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