Immunocytochemical evidence for glucagon-containing cells in the human stomach.

To determine if glucagon-containing cells could be identified in the human fundus, stomachs attained at autopsy within 4-hours of death from persons previously considered to be in good health were examined by the indirect immunoperoxidase technique using antiglucagon serum 30K. Glucagon-containing cells were demonstrated in one of eight gastric fundi examined. The glucagon content of acid alcohol extracts of the fundi examined. The glucagon content of acid alcohol extracts of the funci was low in all cases. Glucagon content was also low in canine stomach removed 4-hours after death. It is concluded that glucagon-containing cells, demonstrable by immunocytochemical techniques, may be present in the gastric fundus of humans.     

Les services médicaux d'aide à la reproduction peuvent-ils justifier leur discrimination envers les couples homosexuels?

Although lesbian women have a variety of ways to become mothers, an increasing number of lesbian couples attend fertility centres asking for donor insemination. The practice of inseminating lesbian couples remains a controversial topic within the reproductive medicine world. A review of the literature did not reveal harmful effects of lesbian motherhood on child development. Furthermore, this treatment is highly effective with an expected cumulative pregnancy rate of 60% after three intra-uterine inseminations with superovulation using clomifene citrate. The only objection to medically assisted procreation in these couples is therefore purely ethical. The extensive experience of the AZ-VUB Centre for Reproductive Medicine that played a pioneer role in this field, is illustrated in this article.     

Endocrine cells in oxyntic mucosa of a dog 5 years after pancreatectomy.

Immunofluorescence shows that the oxyntic mucosa of a dog depancreatized for 5 years and having a poorly-controlled diabetes has more glucagon- and somatostatin-containing cells than the mucosa of a control dog. At the ultrastructural level, 4 endocrine cell types are identified: A-, A-like, D- and enterochromaffin-like (ECL) cells, with increased numbers of A-, A-like and D-cells in gastric glands of the depancreatized dog, together with a higher concentration of immunoreactive glucagon in the gastric mucosa. The increase in A-, A-like and D-cells is compatible with: a) a change induced by the diabetic state itself; b) a hyperplasia secondary to the loss of corresponding pancreatic cells. At any rate, the fact that A-, A-like and D-cells increase parallely may indicate that these three cell types are functionally related one with another.