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. 1987 Mar;79(3):875–880. doi: 10.1172/JCI112897

Histidyl-proline diketopiperazine (His-Pro DKP) immunoreactivity is present in the glucagon-containing cells of the human fetal pancreas.

P Leduque, I M Jackson, A Kervran, S Aratan-Spire, P Czernichow, P M Dubois
PMCID: PMC424225  PMID: 3102558

Abstract

Histidyl-proline diketopiperazine (His-Pro DKP) cells in the pancreas of human fetuses aged between 12 and 19 wk were localized by the indirect antibody-enzyme method on semithin sections. To study their fine structure, two techniques were used: a superimposition technique consisting of comparison of the same cells in semithin and electron microscopic preparations, and an immunocytochemical technique on ultrathin sections using the unlabeled antibody peroxidase-antiperoxidase method. Our results show that (a) the same cells are positive for both His-Pro DKP and glucagon/glicentin, (b) His-Pro DKP immunoreactive cells possess extremely electron-opaque secretory granules, implying that these cells correspond to the A cells, and (c) His-Pro DKP immunoreactivity is found over the secretory granules. We hypothesize that the two peptides His-Pro DKP and thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) have independent origins, since TRH is found in the B cells.

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