Scanning electron microscopy of dissociated pancreatic acinar cell surfaces

Abstract

The pancreatic acinar cell surfaces have been studied by SEM with a dissection of technique and correlated with results obtained by TEM. The SEM results demonstrate characteristic arrangement of microplicae which in some areas are densely packed. In many areas, the microplicae are distributed in such a manner that they create zones with typical geometrical shapes and show a relatively smooth surface. These smooth areas may coincide, as indicated by correlated TEM results, with the limits of intimate contact between adjacent acinar cells which, in turn, represent part of the junctional complex. Another aspect revealed by these SEM preparations concerns the presence of groups of densely packed microplicae, arranged in regular rows and distributed along some grooves and/or infoldings of the cellular surface. On the basis of SEM and TEM information, it is likely that these structures correspond to intercellular (and possibly, in some cases, intracellular) canaliculi which topographically form a kind of extensive microlabyrinthine arrangement running along all the cell sides. One final point revealed by fractured samples concerns the finding of spherical zymogen droplets within the vesicles of the Golgi complex. Because in many scanning images these vesicles appear connected by small openings, it is suggested that they may represent a system of intercommunicating chambers (vacuoles) through which the zymogen droplets can be continuously accumulated and discharged into the acinar lumen.