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Published on: May 10, 2018
Pancreatic Endocrine Effects of Dopamine Receptors in Human Islet Cells
Ying Zhang1, Ruipan Zheng, Xiangzhi Meng
1From the *Department of Human Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Capital Medical University, Beijing; and †School of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.
Objective:
To date, there are no reports on the cellular localization of dopamine receptors in the human pancreas. In our study, we determined the localization and expression of 5 dopamine receptors (D(1), D(2), D(3), D(4), and D(5)) in normal human pancreas tissue.
Methods:
Human nonpathological pancreas tissues were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde, paraffin-embedded, and processed for immunohistochemical analysis to detect dopamine receptors in the human pancreas tissue by using double immunofluorescent labeling and confocal microscopy.
Results:
We found that the D(1) receptor is present in β cells; the D(2) receptor is expressed by α, δ, and pancreatic polypeptide cells; the D(4) receptor is expressed by β and polypeptide cells; whereas the D(5) receptor is expressed only by δ cells.
Conclusions:
Our results identify the dopamine receptors (D(1)-D(5)) in normal pancreas tissue and provide a morphological basis for studying the pancreatic endocrine effects of dopamine and suggest a new target for the clinical treatment of diabetes.
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