[Ultrastructural analysis of the effect of alloxan on the cellular elements of the pancreas in reptiles].

Intraperitoneal injection of alloxan to Testudo horsfieldi and Caspian tortoises in a dose of 300 mg/kg caused destructive and metabolic changes in the cell elements of both the endocrine and the exocrine part of the pancreas. Focal destruction occurred in the granular cytoplasmic reticulum of the acinar cells, and mitochondria--in the mucoid and centroacinar cells. Hydropic degeneration developed in B-cells. All the cell elements and nerve fibers displayed glycogen deposition, the most pronounced in the centroacinar and mucoid cells.