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THE NUMBER OF ISLETS OF LANGERHANS IN THE PANCREAS OF THE ALBINO RAT

Department of Anatomy, University of Missouri

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to determine the relation of age to the total number of islets of Langerhans in the pancreas of the albino rat.

Several investigators have made counts of the islets in pancreases of various animals in studying the process by which normal regulation of the islet content of the pancreas is maintained. Prior to 1911 our knowledge of the number of the islets was based upon estimations from partial counts by the section method. Since it was impossible to examine and count the islets in a complete series of sections of the whole pancreas these studies produced only relative and computed numbers.

By this method Opie (’00) obtained a numerical statement of the relative abundance of the islets in different portions of the human pancreas. He counted the number in sections of 0.5 square centimeters from the enlarged duodenal portion or head, from the mid-portion or body and from the splenic end or tail. The average number of islets in such a section from the head, body and tail of ten normal organs was 18.3, 19.0 and 34.0 respectively.

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