The endocrine pancreas of a squamate reptile, the desert lizard (Chalcides ocellatus)

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Abstract
The endocrine pancreas of the desert lizard (Chalcides ocellatus) was investigated histologically and immunocytochemically. The endocrine tissue was concentrated in the dorsal lobe, where it constituted about 7% of the total volume. In the ventral lobe the endocrine tissue formed approximately 1% of the total volume. Four endocrine cell types were observed in the pancreas of this species, namely insulin-, glucagon-, somatostain- and pancreatic polypeptide (PP)-immunoreactive cells. The volume occupied by these cells was 1, 1, 0.6 and 0.3% of the total volume of the pancreas, respectively. Insulin-immunoreactive cells were located in the islet centre and comprised 3% of dorsal and 0.2% of the ventral lobe volume. Glucagon cells occurred at the islet periphery and amounted to 3 and 0.2% of the volume of the dorsal and ventral lobes, respectively. Somatostatin-immunoreactive cells were located at the islet periphery as well as in between the exocrine parenchyma. They constituted 1 and 0.2% of the volume of the dorsal and ventral lobes, respectively. PP-immunoreactive cells occurred mainly among the exocrine parenchyma as solitary cells. They formed only 0.03% of the volume of the dorsal lobe. The corresponding figure in the ventral lobe was 0.6%.