Immunocytochemical characterization of glucagon-immunoreactive cells using monoclonal antibodies to pancreatic glucagon

Monoclonal antibodies raised to pancreatic glucagon were tested for their ability to detect glucagon-containing endocrine cells in material processed for light and electron microscopy. Samples from man, baboon and rat were used in this investigation. Two antibodies were specific for the pancreatic islet A cells, the remainder detected both pancreatic and enteric endocrine cells. In man and baboon the glucagon-containing cells were confined to the pancreas, lower small intestine and colon. In the rat the distribution was extended to include the corpus of the stomach and the jejunum. The cells identified in the ileum and colon were of three morphological types endocrine, paracrine (type 1) with a single basal process and paracrine (type 2) with multiple small cytoplasmic processes. These antibodies also detected cells in material fixed by conventional methods for electron microscopy. The ultrastructural appearance of the baboon pancreatic glucagon-containing ultracellular secretory granules were demonstrated to be clearly distinct from those described previously in man and rat. The secretory granules averaged 330 +/- 23 nm and lacked the characteristic clear outer halo seen in the other two species.