Experimental study on the origin of pancreatic endocrine cells in the toad Bufo bufo L.

Ablation, transplantation and culture experiments were used to determine the respective roles of the pancreatic dorsal and ventral anlagen in the formation of the endocrine cells. Three successive waves of endocrine formation occur in the pancreas of Bufo bufo at three developmental stages (III6, IV1 and IV2). Each wave is derived from a different source: the first originates from the dorsal anlage, the second from the exocrine tissue of the cortex of the pancreas and the third from the pancreatic duct. Each generation of islets has a specific composition of different cell types. The first wave is only composed of insulin islets; the second wave gives rise to single insulin, glucagon and somatostatin cells; while the third wave generates single cells synthesizing one of the three hormones, homogeneous islets of insulin cells, rare glucagon islets and heterogeneous islets containing insulin cells in the centre and a few glucagon or somatostatin cells at the periphery.