Immunohistochemical localization of thioredoxin and thioredoxin reductase in mouse exocrine and endocrine pancreas.

Thioredoxin and thioredoxin reductase (NADPH-oxidized thioredoxin oxidoreductase, E.C. 1.6.4.5) have been proposed to be involved in several thiol-dependent reduction-oxidation reactions in cells. Both proteins have been immunohistochemically demonstrated in the periphery of the cytoplasm and in cytoplasmic granules of acinar and islet cells in mouse pancreas. In animals fed ad libitum, the staining for thioredoxin was more intense in the exocrine acinar cells than in the islet cells, whereas that for thioredoxin reductase was more intense in the endocrine than in the exocrine pancreas. In the islets of fed mice all endocrine cell types showed about the same staining intensity for thioredoxin, while thioredoxin reductase was greatly enriched in the somatostatin-containing D cells. Starvation overnight caused an increased staining for both proteins in the acinar cells as well as in the islets. Under conditions of starvation, thioredoxin reductase, in contrast to thioredoxin, appeared to increase preferentially in the islet B cells, as compared with the D cells. Cysteamine treatment reduced the staining for somatostatin and for thioredoxin reductase in the D cells without any obvious effect on the other pancreatic cells. The results are compatible with a role for thioredoxin and thioredoxin reductase in secretion.