The study of intermediate filament expression in the pancreatic epithelium
has been previously focused almost exclusively on cytokeratins. Transient v
imentin immunoreactivity has also been detected in duct cells of rat fetal
pancreas. Here we report that, in rat pancreas, intense GFAP-like immunorea
ctivity is detectable in a subpopulation of endocrine cells located in the
periphery of the islet of Langerhans. In addition, staining appeared to be
preferentially localized to the apical pole of the cells. Two different pol
yclonal antibodies were employed in this study, with analogous results. Sta
ining of consecutive sections with anti-GFAP, anti-glucagon, and anti-somat
ostatin antibodies demonstrates that GFAP-like immunoreactivity is present
in glucagon-secreting cells. The relevance of this finding is discussed.