Light and electron microscopic changes of the exocrine pancreas in diabetic dogs induced by streptozotocin

Light and electron microscopic studies on exocrine pancreas of diabetic dogs with duration of diabetes up to a year induced by streptozotocin were performed. In the pancreatic acinar cells of the long-term diabetic dogs, atrophy, hyperplastic nodules, and interacinar and interlobular fibrosis were exclusively observed by light microscopy and autophagic vacuoles, lipid droplets, fragmentation of rough endoplasmic reticulum, and decrease or varying size of zymogen granules were much more frequently found by electron microscopy compared with the control. The results might indicate the possibility that insulinopenia causes the injurious effect on exocrine pancreas to produce interacinar fibrosis.