Quantitative description of a teleost exocrine pancreas. Ultrastructural morphometric study of nonstimulated acinar...

The quantitative analysis of exocrine pancreas was fulfilled in teleost fish ( Pimelodus maculatus). The volume fraction occupied by acinar cells, blood vessels and ducts has been assessed by point-counting volumetry in 0.25 micron araldite sections. Measurements of the diameters of the transections of acinar cells nuclei and nucleolus allowed the assessment of the mean nuclear and nucleolar volume according to the method of Bach (1963). With these data, the cytoplasm nuclei and nucleolus volume was calculated in cubic micrometers. Morphometric ultrastructural data was obtained by applying over the electronmicrophotographs (X 21,000) a test system of 84 segments regularly spaced one from another (Weibel 1966). The results obtained was analysed and compared to the mammalian.