Abstract
The aim of the present study was to evaluate vascular compartments within the rat pancreas with compartmental analysis of the outflow of blood cells from the perfused gland in situ. The presence of two vascular compartments requiring approximately 15 and 30 min for emptying, was noted in normoglycemic rats. The pancreas from diabetic rats, in which the islet β-cells had been destroyed by intravenous injection of streptozotocin 1 or 6 weeks earlier, demonstrated the same outflow characteristics. It is therefore likely that these observations reflect the presence of two vascular compartments within the rat pancreas, possibly representing the islet-acinar vasculature and the ductal vasculature.