CATECHOL AND INDOLE DERIVATIVES IN A TRANSPLANTABLE ISLET-CELL TUMOUR OF GOLDEN HAMSTER

No adrenergic nerves were found in the transplantable islet‐cell tumour of the golden hamster studied in this investigation, but the tumour cells displayed an intense formaldehyde‐induced fluorescence. Chemically, not only were dopa, dopamine, and 5‐hydroxytryptamine found in the tumour, but also a hitherto unidentified substance capable of forming a fluorophore with formaldehyde. There is evidence that the fluorophore of this substance dominates in tumour cells and makes it impossible to register the presence of dopa, dopamine, and 5‐hydroxytryptamine in the microspectrograph. The fluorescence microscopic analyses of the endocrine pancreas of the tumour‐bearing animals did not reveal any differences from normal hamsters. Thus, these golden hamsters with an islet cell tumour should be of great importance in further studies aimed at understanding the biological significance of the monoamines in the hormone production, as there are two quite different insulin producing cell systems: the islets of Langerhans and the tumour cells. The islets of Langerhans contain no demonstrable amount of mono‐amines in the islet cells–in contrast to many mammalian species–but a rich supply of adrenergic nerves. The islet cell tumour contains a large concentration of monoamines in the tumour cells but no adrenergic nerves. © 1969 Scandinavian Physiological Society