Ultrastructural morphometric study on developing acinar cells of the rat pancreas and parotid gland.

The fraction of cellular volume occupied by the cytoplasm has been assessed by point-counting volumetry in 0.5 micrometer araldite sections. Measurement of the transection radius of the nuclei of acinar cells allowed the assessment of the mean nuclear volume according to the method of Bach. With these data, the cytoplasm volume was calculated in cubic micrometers. Ultrastructural morphometric data were obtained by means of superimposing on the electron photomicrographies (x 21,000 or x 28,500) a test system of 84 evenly spaced segments according to Weibel et al. The analysis of the values obtained for the pancreas and parotid gland allowed for the supposition that the process of maturation in the rat, either for the pancreas or the parotid gland, occurs simultaneously with the mitotic process, this last being held as the predominating one in the first 3--4 postnatal weeks. The cytodifferentiation process becomes more marked in the last phases studied and on the 40th day it already shows parameters held as similar to those of the adult animal.