Subtotal pancreatectomy in the chicken: evidence of a diabetic state and effect on the somatostatin cells of the digestive tract.

The effect of subtotal pancreatectomy on the regulation of plasma glucose was studied in the chicken. The eventual appearance of an extra-pancreatic source of insulin and the effect of pancreatectomy on somatostatin containing cells of the intestine were also investigated. Over a period of 3-5 weeks, pancreatectomy decreased body weight gain, greatly impaired glucose tolerance and hindered the regulation of plasma glucose levels after a meal. A large deficit in the insulin release induced by a meal was noticed after pancreatectomy. Therefore, in the fed chicken, pancreatectomy results in the typical signs of diabetes. No extrapancreatic source of insulin could be found either by radioimmunoassay of extracts of proventriculus, gizzard, gizzard-duodenum junction and duodenum from controls or depancreatized chickens, or by immunohistological studies in the same organs plus pancreatic ducts. No glucagon producing cells could be found by immunohistological studies in the gastrointestinal tract. The size of the somatostatin cells from the gizzard-duodenum junction was negatively related to the magnitude of the glucose-induced insulin release, which suggests an increase in somatostatin cell activity in true insulin-deficient depancreatized chickens as observed in insulin deficient diabetic mammals.