Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016 May;121(2):155-8.
doi: 10.3109/03009734.2016.1154906. Epub 2016 Mar 21.

Dynamic development of the pancreas from birth to adulthood

Susan Bonner-Weir  1 , Cristina Aguayo-Mazzucato  1 , Gordon C Weir  1
Affiliations
Review

Dynamic development of the pancreas from birth to adulthood

Susan Bonner-Weir et al. Ups J Med Sci. 2016 May.

Abstract

After birth the endocrine pancreas continues its development, a complex process that involves both the maturation of islet cells and a marked expansion of their numbers. New beta cells are formed both by duplication of pre-existing cells and by new differentiation (neogenesis) across the first postnatal weeks, with the result of beta cells of different stages of maturation even after weaning. Improving our understanding of this period of beta cell expansion could provide valuable therapeutic insights.

Keywords: Beta cells; neogenesis; postnatal growth.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Schematic drawing of the dynamic changes in the determinants of beta cell growth from the first postnatal month into adulthood. This diagram (drawn not to scale) is based on the data in Scaglia et al. (12). Extending past this same period is the process of functional maturation of the beta cells.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Pancreatic growth is by formation of new lobes and further branching of ducts to form new acini and not by continued growth by adding cells to individual acini. The dotted (grey or red) lines in the adult pancreas represent those ducts that grew after birth as the pancreas has extensive growth.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Hellerstrom C, Swenne I.. Functional maturation and proliferation of fetal pancreatic beta-cells. Diabetes. 1991;40(Suppl 2):89–93. - PubMed
    1. Bonner-Weir S, Li W-C, Ouziel-Yahalom L, Guo L, Weir GC, Sharma A.. β-Cell growth and regeneration:replication is only part of the story. Diabetes. 2010;59:2340–8. - PMC - PubMed
    1. El-Gohary Y, Wiersch J, Tulachan S, Xiao X, Guo P, Rymer C, et al. Intraislet pancreatic ducts can give rise to insulin-positive cells. Endocrinology. 2016;157:166–75. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zhang M, Lin Q, Qi T, Wang T, Chen CC, Riggs AD, et al. Growth factors and medium hyperglycemia induce Sox9+ ductal cell differentiation into beta cells in mice with reversal of diabetes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016;113:650–5. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Al-Hasani K, Pfeifer A, Courtney M, Ben-Othman N, Gjernes E, Vieira A, et al. Adult duct-lining cells can reprogram into beta-like cells able to counter repeated cycles of toxin-induced diabetes. Dev Cell. 2013;26:86–100. - PubMed