The prenatal development of the spiny mice (Acomys) pancreatic endocrine apparatus: a- and b-cells appear earlier than B-cells

All over the world, work is actively underway to study the histogenesis and organogenesis of the pancreas, which makes it possible to answer a number of questions related to the mechanisms of this organ regeneration following damage of various origins. Spiny mice (Acomys) are a convenient laboratory model for studying prenatal development of internal organs because they have a relatively long intrauterine development period. These mice are predisposed to developing diabetes with obesity, hyperglycemia, glycosuria and ketonuria without insulin resistance under high-energy feeding conditions. The purpose of the study is the sequence of appearance and distribution of insulin-, glucagon- and somatostatin-positive cells to analyze the morphogenesis of the pancreatic islet apparatus during the prenatal development of spiny mice at different stages of gestation. The work was carried out on Spiny mice (Acomys). The 15th, 19th, 22nd, 24th, 28th, 34th, and 38th days of gestation were studied. The expression of glucagon, insulin and somatostatin in the developing pancreas was studied by immunohistochemistry methods. The first glucagon- and somatostatin-positive cells were found on the 19th day of prenatal development, and insulin-positive cells on the 22nd day. The first accumulations of endocrine cells appear on the 22nd day of gestation. The islets of Langerhans are clearly visible from the 34th day of prenatal development. In Spiny mice, during prenatal development in the pancreas, α- and δ-cells appear earlier than β-cells of the islets of Langerhans. The morphology of α-, β- and δ-cells and localization in pancreatic islets in humans and Acomys mice during prenatal development is similar. We believe that data on the development of the endocrine apparatus of the pancreas obtained in Spiny mice can be extrapolated to humans and the results of the work can clarify the processes of differentiation of endocrine cells of the islets of Langerhans in the human pancreas.