The endocrine pancreas of the Cape fur seal, Arctocephalus pusillus (Schreber, 1776): an immunocytochemical study

Abstract

The indirect peroxidase method was employed to study the endocrine pancreas of the Cape fur seal. Immunoreactivity to insulin was confined to the cores of the islets and the insulin cells were more abundant than the other endocrine cell types, which occurred mainly in the mantles of the islets. Of these, glucagon cells were the most numerous, followed by somatostatin and pancreatic polypeptide (PP) cells. The latter were observed in the mantles of the islets and scattered in the exocrine tissue of the duodenal lobe. The marked variation in the shape and the distribution of the endocrine cells in the mantles of the islets seen in the pancreas of the seal, seems to be typical of carnivorous species like the cat and dog.