Presence of DOPA decarboxylase and its localisation in adult rat pancreatic islet cells.

The aim of this work was to investigate the possible presence of DOPA decarboxylase (DDC) in endocrine cells of adult rat pancreas. Islet peptide hormones (insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin), as well as DDC, were detected immunohistochemically using the double-immunofluorescence technique and specific antibodies. DDC-like immunoreactivity was present in cytoplasmic granules within endocrine cells located at islet peripheries in a distribution consistent with islet localisation of A cells. Moreover, these same cells stained positively with glucagon antibody. As DDC is an enzyme specifically involved in catecholamine synthesis, insular cells must possess the capacity to elaborate this class of hormone at least up to the dopamine-decarboxylation step. Thus, after further metabolic processing either in A cells or elsewhere, endogenously-synthesised islet catecholamines may be released and participate in paracrine regulation of insulin secretion.