A new multilabeling technique for simultaneous demonstration of different islet cells in permanent slides.

We describe a simple immunohistochemical method for simultaneous demonstration of insulin, glucagon, somatostatin, and pancreatic polypeptide cells of the Langerhans islet in routinely fixed paraffin-embedded human and Syrian hamster pancreases. With the use of alcohol insoluble chromogens, the slides can be mounted in Permount and be kept permanently without losing the color quality and intensity. With this technique, the spatial topographical distribution and morphology of the individual pancreatic endocrine cells can be investigated in the healthy and diseased pancreas.