Effects of Ghrelin on the Structural Complexity of Exocrine Pancreas Tissue Architecture

Recent studies have shown that ghrelin increases pancreatic exocrine secretion. However, the potential effects of ghrelin on the morphology of exocrine pancreas (EP) remain unknown. In this work, using fractal analysis, we demonstrate that centrally administered ghrelin increases structural complexi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Microscopy and microanalysis 2013-06, Vol.19 (3), p.553-558
Main Authors: Pantic, Igor, Nesic, Dejan, Stevanovic, Darko, Starcevic, Vesna, Pantic, Senka, Trajkovic, Vladimir
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological Applications
Fractals
Ghrelin - administration & dosage
Ghrelin - metabolism
Ghrelin - toxicity
Growth hormones
Histocytochemistry
Laboratory animals
Light microscopy
Male
Medicine
Microscopy
Pancreas
Pancreas, Exocrine - drug effects
Pancreas, Exocrine - pathology
Pancreatitis
Peptides
Rats
Rats, Wistar
Tissues
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Summary:Recent studies have shown that ghrelin increases pancreatic exocrine secretion. However, the potential effects of ghrelin on the morphology of exocrine pancreas (EP) remain unknown. In this work, using fractal analysis, we demonstrate that centrally administered ghrelin increases structural complexity and tissue disorder in rat EP. The study was carried out on a total of 40 male Wistar rats divided into four groups (n = 10): ghrelin-treated animals (average age, 1.5 months), ghrelin-treated animals (8.5 months), and controls (1.5 and 8.5 months). The pancreas tissue sections were stained with hematoxylin/eosin and visualized by light microscopy. For each animal, the average values of tissue fractal dimension, lacunarity, as well as parameters of co-occurrence matrix texture, were determined using tissue digital micrographs. The results indicate that ghrelin administration increases EP fractal dimension and textural entropy, and decreases lacunarity, regardless of the age. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the effects of ghrelin on the morphological properties of pancreatic tissue, and also the first to apply fractal and textural analysis methods in quantification of EP tissue architecture.
ISSN:1431-9276
1435-8115
DOI:10.1017/S1431927613000524