Monoamines in pancreatic islets of guinea pig, hamster, rat, and mouse determined by high performance liquid chromatography

• Previous studies on the occurrence of catecholamines and serotonin in pancreatic islets using various histochemical and chemical methods have given widely different results. We therefore performed a comparative analysis of these amines in whole pancreas and islet tissue from hamster, guinea pig, rat, and mouse by the use of high performance liquid chromatography. Whole pancreas of guinea pig, hamster, and rat had a norepinephrine concentration of approximately 1.1 [mu]mol/kg of pancreatic wet weight. The mouse pancreas had less than one-half of that concentration. Epinephrine and dopamine concentrations were on the order of 0.02 [mu]mol/kg of pancreatic wet weight in all four species. The serotonin concentration was 2.1 [mu]mol/kg of pancreatic wet weight in the guinea pig pancreas and approximately 0.2 [mu]mol/kg in the other three species studied. The catecholamine concentrations were much higher in the pancreatic islets than in the exocrine pancreas. Thus, the norepinephrine concentration was approximately 35 [mu]mol/kg of islet wet weight in hamster islets and 5-10 [mu]mol/kg in rat, guinea pig, and mouse islets. The epinephrine concentration in islet tissue ranged between 1 and 7 [mu]mol/kg of islet wet weight and the dopamine concentration between 0.5 and 4 [mu]mol/kg except for guinea pig islets (12 [mu]mol/kg). The islet tissue in the mouse, rat, and guinea pig contained disproportionately more epinephrine and dopamine relative to norepinephrine than did the exocrine pancreas. Chemical sympathectomy (6- hydroxydopamine treatment) in the mouse reduced the norepinephrine and epinephrine concentrations in islet tissue to nondetectable levels, whereas the dopamine concentration was essentially unchanged, thus suggesting an extraneuronal source of this amine in addition to its occurrence in adrenergic nerves. The islets of hamster, rat, and mouse contained no serotonin, whereas guinea pig islets contained approximately 275 [mu]mol/kg of islet wet weight. We conclude that, although species differences exist, the pancreatic islets have markedly higher levels of catecholamines than the exocrine pancreas, and that serotonin occurs in the exocrine pancreas of all four species studied but in the endocrine pancreas only in the guinea pig.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Endokrinologi och diabetes (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Endocrinology and Diabetes (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Annan klinisk medicin (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Other Clinical Medicine (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Dermatologi och venereologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Dermatology and Venereal Diseases (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper -- Farmakologi och toxikologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Basic Medicine -- Pharmacology and Toxicology (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)