Endocrine architecture of caprine pancreas: a histomorphochemical and ultrastructural study

Abstract

This study aimed to study architecture of pancreatic islets by histological, ultrastructural, histochemical, and immunohistochemical investigations in male and female goats. The tissues were collected from different lobes of pancreas from local slaughterhouses and processed for paraffin sectioning. The sections were stained with different histomorphological, histochemical and immunohistochemical staining. For electron microscopy standard protocols were used. The study revealed no morphological differences in islets of male and female pancreas, however significantly larger (p < 0.05) islets were observed in male animals. Among the different lobes larger islets were observed in left lobe in both the sexes. Immunohistochemically, number of insulin positive cells were more in female than male and number of glucagon cells were more in male than female but the difference was non significant (p > 0.05). Low to moderate PCNA expression in both the sexes indicative of cellular proliferation within islets, while strong VEGF reactivity suggested its role in islet vascularization. This study has provided a baseline anatomical and immunohistochemical data for comparative endocrinology and disease models studies across species, especially in ruminants or domestic animals. Future study can help in early identification of sex-specific susceptibility to metabolic or endocrine disorders in goats (e.g., diabetes-like conditions).