Histological and histochemical studies on pancreas of camels (Camelus dromedarius)

Normal histological structure and histochemical reactions were observed on normal pancreas from 10 healthy camels. The pancreas in camel is a lobulated compound tubulo-acinar gland having exocrine and endocrine portions. In the present study, the secretory acini of pancreas were oval or irregularly round and composed of 4 to 8 pyramidal cells arranged around a small central lumen. Langerhans islet cells were spherical with round nuclei and granular cytoplasm. However, the alpha cells were scattered in the islets or often as clumps at periphery, whereas beta cells were observed throughout the islets specially in the peripheral area and the clear cells were evenly distributed in the islets. Alpha and beta cells were also observed out of the islets. The mean volume density of Langerhans islets to the total pancreatic tissue was 0.931+/-0.273%, the mean area of the islets to the total pancreatic tissue was 14263.90+/-4862.43 mu m(2) and the average number of islets per unit area was 3.84+/-1.23 per mm(2). The alpha, beta, delta and clear cells comprised of 24.62, 55.71, 4.65 and 1.49% of islets cells, respectively.