352 INANITION AND MALNUTRITION 



the cells of the alveoli. In the fasting guinea pig, the fat droplets were more 

 numerous, and very fine droplets occurred in the cells of the islets of Langerhans. 



Braitmaier ('04) in the pigeon noted that granules are scarce in the pancreas 

 cells 6 hours after feeding, but become abundant after 48 hours of fasting. 

 The islets of Langerhans appear unchanged. Dale ('04), however, claimed both 

 numerical and volumetric increase in the pancreatic islets of the toad during 

 prolonged inanition. Numerous transitional stages between islets and acini 

 were also observed. This conclusion was confirmed by Dale ('05) in the pan- 

 creas of an emaciated cat. 



Pugliese ('05, '05a) studied the pancreas in 5 dogs, normal, fasting (time not 

 stated) and refed 1-4 days. He confirmed the observations of Morpurgo 

 and Statkewitsch as to the reduced size of the acini and cells, with indistinct 

 outlines, during fasting. The cytoplasm appeared very scanty and sparsely 

 granular. No confluent masses were noted. On refeeding, the pancreas made 

 rapid recovery. Even after the second meal the alveoli appeared larger, the 

 cells taller, and the nuclei rounded, with distinct nucleoli; and in many cells 

 the inner granular zone had become distinct. On the fourth day of refeeding,. 

 the structure appeared normal. 



Vincent and Thompson ('07) obtained data for the dog, cat, pigeon and frog, 

 supporting the doctrine that the effect of inanition is to increase the "lepto- 

 chrome" (islet) tissue at the expense of the zymogenic epithelium. Rennie 

 ('09), however, found great variation in the islets in different parts of the pan- 

 creas, and was unable to produce them experimentally by starvation in Tropi- 

 donotus natrix in parts of the gland normally free from them. He therefore 

 (like Jarotzky) concluded that the islets are independent structures. 



Strong evidence against the theory of the transformation of acini into islets 

 by inanition was given by Bensley ('11), who perfected an ingenious technique 

 (by injection of neutral red), which stained the islets differentially and made it 

 possible to count the total number of the entire gland. In 6 guinea pigs fasting 

 (with water) 5-8 days, together with a larger number of normal controls, he 

 found much individual variation, but no evidence of a change in the number of 

 the islets by inanition. He also confirmed this by similar experiments on dogs. 



Morgulis ('11) found that in the salamander, Diemyctylus viridescens, the 

 pancreatic cells and nuclei resemble those of the liver and duodenum in their 

 reactions to inanition. "During inanition the whole pancreas suffers great 

 reduction in size, so that after 3 months it is scarcely more than a mere shred 

 attached to the intestine, and a microscopic examination shows that it has 

 become very poor in cells." After 2 months of inanition (with loss of 21 per 

 cent in body weight) the pancreatic cell volume has decreased 55.6 per cent, 

 and the nucleus 37.2 per cent. After 3 months (with loss of 36 per cent in body 

 weight) the cell volume has decreased 71 per cent, and the nucleus 35.2 per cent. 

 The nucleus also becomes more oval in form during inanition. On refeeding, 

 the pancreas rapidly regains its normal size and structure. Even in 4 days, 

 the reduced cell volume has increased 94.3 per cent and the nucleus 27.4 per 

 cent. In 8 days the cell volume has increased 135 per cent and the nucleus 

 33.1 per cent. In young albino rats stunted by underfeeding, the pancreas 



