[Endocrine pancreas function in rats in the early postnatal period. The effect of feeding and litter size]

The rat pancreatic endocrine region during the early postnatal period was evaluated depending on the litter size. The body and pancreatic weight lowers and the blood glucose content tends to rise alongside with the litter size increasing. Insulin levels are augmented and glucagon content is reduced in the pancreas of newborn rats with the large litter. The feeding of the animals is accompanied by rapid enhancement of the gland hormone concentration. The per cent content of insulin-secreting cells in Langerhans' islets of newborn rats is rather higher than that of adult animals, being dependent on the litter size as well.