Argyrophilic and glucagon-immunoreactive cells in the ileum and colon of the developing opossum Didelphis albiventris (Marsupialia)

The ontogenesis of glucagon-producing cells of the ileum and colon of pouch young and of weaned and adult opossums Didelphis albiventris was studied i n comparison with the endocrine argyrophilic cell population development. I n the ileum, the mean population of argyrophilic cells/mm(2) increased with ontogenesis from 122.9 +/- 18.7 in the pouch young to 211.4 +/- 48.9 in ad ult animals, while the number of glucagon-immunoreactive cells/mm(2) remain ed practically constant, i.e. 29.2 +/- 7.3 in the pouch young and 28.1 +/- 5.0 in the adult animal. In the colon, the population of argyrophilic cells /mm(2) remained constant throughout ontogenesis, i.e. 45.8 +/- 6.2 in the p ouch young and 48.9 +/- 10.4 in the adult animals. In turn, the enterogluca gon-producing cells increase in number from 4.5 +/- 2.9 to 14.6 +/- 5.2 cel ls/mm(2) from the pouch young to the adult. We conclude that the intestinal glucagon-producing cells of D. albiventris present a differentiated develo pment in the ileum and colon. This fact suggests that glucagon-immunoreacti ve cells may play a distinct role in these segments of the intestine during ontogenesis. Copyright (C) 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel