Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: Wiley Interdiscip Rev Dev Biol. 2012 Mar 14;1(5):609–628. doi: 10.1002/wdev.44

Figure 5. Islet cell specification in the developing pancreas.

Figure 5

Multipotent pancreatic progenitor cells (PDX1+/PTF1A+/SOX9+) are present in the ductal epithelium in the developing pancreas. In addition, multipotent CPA+/PTF1A+ cells at the tips in early development are multipotent progenitor cells but later in development are restricted to differentiating into only the exocrine lineage. All hormone-producing endocrine cell lineages are derived from the endocrine progenitor cells (NEUROG3+), which delaminate from the ductal epithelium. Endocrine progenitors can differentiate into all five hormone-expressing cell types including insulin-producing beta cells, glucagon-producing alpha cells, somatostatin-producing delta cells, pancreatic polypeptide-producing PP cells and ghrelin-producing epsilon cells. As development proceeds, these differentiated hormone+ cells will coalesce and form the islets of Langerhans. The influence of various transcription factors determines the specific endocrine cell produced.