Immunohistochemical studies of the endocrine cells within the gastro-entero-pancreatic system of Osteoglossomorpha, an ancient teleostean group

The identification and distribution of endocrine cells within the gastro-entero-pancreatic (GEP) system of five species of the Osteoglossomorpha (Osteoglossum bicirrhosum, Scleropages jardini, Pantodon buchholzi, Notopterus chitala and Gnathonemus petersii) were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Four immunoreactive cell types were identified within the pancreatic islets (A, B, D, and F cells), using antisera directed against mammalian insulin (m-INS), somatostatins (SST-14, SST-25), and members of the pancreatic polypeptide (aPY, NPY, PYY) and glucagon (GLU, GLP) families. The B cells were located throughout the center of the islets in the five species and, in general, D cells had a similar distribution. However, immunoreactivity to anti-somatostatins varied between four of the species and G. petersii, which showed less intensely stained D cells in the islets, but greater SST immunoreactivity in both the intestinal and the stomach epithelia than in comparable epithelia of other species. For peptides of both the pancreatic polypeptide and the glucagon families, the immunoreactivity was detected at the periphery of the islets, and there was a suggestion of an interfamily colocalization of peptides in some cells. In addition, glucagon family peptides showed a scattered immunoreactivity throughout the central portion of the islets. A moderately abundant number of cells in the intestine were immunoreactive to the PP family antisera in all five species. However, immunoreactivities to GLU, GLP, SST, and m-INS antisera were variable in intestinal cells of the species. Immunoreactivity with sera raised against m-INS and PYY was also observed in the stomach of P. buchholzi. The significance of these findings is discussed in both ontogenetic and phylogenetic contexts with respect to the GEP system in actinopterygian fishes and with respect to the possibility of variable processing of prohormones in the different organs of these osteoglossomorphs.