European Journal of Anatomy

Official Journal of The Spanish Society of Anatomy
Cover Volume 24 - Number 1
Eur J Anat, 24 (1): 1-7 (2020)

Microscopic study of the rat pancreas after denervation

M.H. AL-Muhtaseb1, Hind M. Mohtasib2, Tala R. Khouri2

1Faculty of Medicine, The University of Jordan, Jordan, 2University of Jordan Hospital, The University of Jordan, Jordan

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to demonstrate that the denervation of the pancreas may affect the enteric neuronal plexus, which controls both the endocrine and exocrine parts of the pancreas. By using the light microscope, the histological changes of the islets of Langerhans and the pancreatic acini in the rat pancreas were studied two and three weeks after sympathectomy and truncal vagotomy. More-over, measurements of the changes in fasting blood glucose levels and glucose tolerance tests in the control and experimental animals were record-ed.Atrophic changes and degeneration of the pan-creatic acinar cells and islets of Langerhans cells were observed after both sympathectomy and va-gotomy. Biochemical measurements of fasting blood, and the glucose tolerance tests after sym-pathectomy and vagotomy were increased signifi-cantly, which is consistent with the histological re-sults. The results of this study explain that the exo-crine and endocrine parts of the pancreas are de-pendent on both sympathetic and parasympathetic innervation via the enteric plexuses of the rat pan-creas. These results establish a firm correlation between the autonomic innervation and the enteric plexus, which controls the function of the endo-crine and exocrine parts of the pancreas.

Keywords: Rat pancreas â?? Truncal vagotomy â?? Sympathectomy â?? Enteric plexus â?? Microscopic study

European Journal of anatomy
ISSN 2340-311X (Online)