A HISTOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE PANCREAS, LIVER AND KIDNEY BOTH DURING AND AFTER RECOVERY FROM ALLOXAN DIABETES¹

Abstract

One hundred and eighty two hamsters were injected intravenously, via the ocular sinus, with a diabetogenic dose of alloxan. Their blood sugars were determined by an anthrone technique at intervals for a period of 30 weeks. Samples of the organs were taken under Nembutal anesthesia during various periods of the diabetic phase and from time to time after recovery. Tissues were fixed in: Bouin's, Flemming's and a saturated solution of picric acid in absolute alcohol and stained in: modified aldehyde fuchsin; gallocyanin chrome alum and periodic acid-Schiff with and without maltase digestion. The islets of alloxan diabetic hamsters return to normal either by: recuperation of cells damaged or inhibited by the drug; by proliferation from small ducts; by transformation of acinar tissue. Intermittent and persistent diabetics recover through the latter mechanisms. In most cases, a return to physiological normal precedes that of histological normal by several weeks.