Skip to main content
The Journal of Cell Biology logoLink to The Journal of Cell Biology
. 1962 Feb 1;12(2):313–327. doi: 10.1083/jcb.12.2.313

CHANGES IN PANCREATIC ACINAR CELLS DURING PROTEIN DEPRIVATION

Bernard Weisblum 1, Lawrence Herman 1, Patrick J Fitzgerald 1
PMCID: PMC2106035  PMID: 14005814

Abstract

After 10 days of a protein-free diet the acinar cells of the rat pancreas showed a coarsening of nuclear matrix, depletion of zymogen granules, some loss of ribosomes, and a widening of the spaces between ergastoplasmic membranes. In addition, there could be found, but rarely, a lesion of the ergastoplasm consisting of vacuoles of agranular, disoriented membranes, which was similar to a lesion produced by ethionine. Thereafter, a return toward normal structure occurred which was characterized by beginning increase in the size of the Golgi apparatus at 12 days, appearance of zymogen granules at 18 days, and a relatively normal appearing but smaller cell at 28 days. After 10 to 12 days of protein deprivation a reversal of many of the morphologic effects of protein deprivation was accompanied by a return toward normal of some pancreatic enzyme activities. Possibly this spontaneous return toward normal levels represented a raiding of protein stores, or it may have been an adaptive phenomenon.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.7 MB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. ADAMS C. W., FERNAND V. S., SCHNIEDEN H. Histochemistry of a condition resembling kwashiorkor produced in rodents by a low protein-high carbohydrate diet (Cassava). Br J Exp Pathol. 1958 Aug;39(4):393–404. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Allfrey V. G., Mirsky A. E. SOME EFFECTS OF SUBSTITUTING THE DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID OF ISOLATED NUCLEI WITH OTHER POLYELECTROLYTES. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1958 Oct 15;44(10):981–991. doi: 10.1073/pnas.44.10.981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. BOREK E., RYAN A. Studies on a mutant of Escherichia coli with unbalanced ribonucleic acid synthesis. II. The concomitance of ribonucleic acid synthesis with resumed protein synthesis. J Bacteriol. 1958 Jan;75(1):72–76. doi: 10.1128/jb.75.1.72-76.1958. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. FARQUHAR M. G., WELLINGS S. R. Electron microscopic evidence suggesting secretory granule formation within the Golgi apparatus. J Biophys Biochem Cytol. 1957 Mar 25;3(2):319–322. doi: 10.1083/jcb.3.2.319. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. FITZGERALD P. J., ALVIZOURI M. Rapid restitution of the rat pancreas following acinar cell necrosis subsequent to ethionine. Nature. 1952 Nov 29;170(4335):929–930. doi: 10.1038/170929b0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. FITZGERALD P. J. The problem of the precursor cell of regenerating pancreatic acinar epithelium. Lab Invest. 1960 Jan-Feb;9:67–85. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. GRIMSTONE A. V. Cytoplasmic membranes and the nuclear membrane in the flagellate Trichonympha. J Biophys Biochem Cytol. 1959 Dec;6:369–378. doi: 10.1083/jcb.6.3.369. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. HERMAN L., FITZGERALD P. J. The degenerative changes in pancreatic acinar cells caused by DL-ethionine. J Cell Biol. 1962 Feb;12:277–296. doi: 10.1083/jcb.12.2.277. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. KING D. W., SOCOLOW E. L., BENSCH K. G. The relation between protein synthesis and lipide accumulation in L strain cells and Ehrlich ascites cells. J Biophys Biochem Cytol. 1959 May 25;5(3):421–431. doi: 10.1083/jcb.5.3.421. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. PARDEE A. B., PAIGEN K., PRESTIDGE L. S. A study of the ribonucleic acid of normal and chloromycetin-inhibited bacteria by zone electrophoresis. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1957 Jan;23(1):162–173. doi: 10.1016/0006-3002(57)90299-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. RENDI R. Protein degradation of foetal and cancer tissues in the presence of ethionine. Nature. 1958 Feb 1;181(4605):351–351. doi: 10.1038/181351a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. SJOSTRAND F. S., HANZON V. Ultrastructure of Golgi apparatus of exocrine cells of mouse pancreas. Exp Cell Res. 1954 Nov;7(2):415–429. doi: 10.1016/s0014-4827(54)80087-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. STENRAM U. Interferometric determinations of the ribose nucleic acid concentration in liver nucleoli of protein-fed and protein-deprived rats. Exp Cell Res. 1958 Aug;15(1):174–183. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(58)90073-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. STENRAM U. Nucleolar size in the liver of rats fed diets deficient in essential amino acids. Acta Pathol Microbiol Scand. 1956;38(5):364–374. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. STENRAM U. The nucleolar size in the liver cell of rats fed high and non protein diets. Exp Cell Res. 1953 Dec;5(2):539–541. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(53)90241-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. STENRAM U. The volume and ribose nucleic acid concentration of nucleoli in liver and hepatoma cells of rats fed on high and non protein diets. Acta Pathol Microbiol Scand. 1958;44(3):239–246. doi: 10.1111/j.1699-0463.1958.tb01073.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Cell Biology are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES