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Immunocytochemical Characterization of Secretory Granule Maturation in Pancreatic A-Cells^*

Institute of Histology and Embryology, University of Geneva Medical School 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
Veterans Administration Medical Center, The University of Texas Health Science Center Dallas, Texas 75235

Address requests for reprints to: Dr. L. Orci, Department de Morphologie, Universite de Geneve, Institut d’Histologie et d’Embryologie, Centre Medical Universitaire, Geneva 1211, Switzerland.

Abstract

Antigenic sites related to glucagon and glucagon precursors were characterized by ultrastructural immunocytochemistry in secretory compartments of the pancreatic A-cell, namely Golgi cisternae, condensing granules in Golgi cisternae, coated immature secretory granules, and noncoated mature secretory granules. The C-terminal glucagon immunoreactivity was low in all these compartments except in the noncoated mature secretory granules. By contrast, N-terminal glucagon and glicentin immunoreactivities were high at the condensing granule stage and, respectively, increased (N-terminal) or decreased (glicentin) until the mature secretory granule stage. These data suggest that: 1) glucagon precursors and glucagon coexist at different concentrations in secretory compartments of the A-cell; 2) the condensing granules in Golgi cisternae and immature granules consist predominantly of glucagon precursors; and 3) the removal of the peptide masking the C-terminal of the glucagon molecule occurs between the coated and the mature granule stages. (Endocrinology 114: 481, 1984)

Footnotes

^* Part of this work was presented at the 17th Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, Amsterdam, September 1981 (Abstract 19). This work was supported by Grants Nr-3.668.80 and 3.460.83 from the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Received April 6, 1983.

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