The effects of duct obliteration and of autotransplantation on the endocrine function of canine pancreatic segments.

This study in dogs addresses itself to the endocrine function of the duct-obliterated left pancreatic lobe (body and tail), which is the portion of the pancreas used for segmental transplantation. The endocrine function was determined with intravenous (i.v.) glucose tolerance tests and expressed in K-values and insulin-response curves. Duct obliteration of the nontransplanted left lobe was associated with normal K-values in the presence of the unmodified right lobe, but with reduced K-values in its absence. Removal of the left lobe while leaving the right lobe untouched was not associated with reduced K-values, but duct obliteration of the whole pancreas was. When the duct-obliterated left lobe was transplanted onto the iliac vessels (segmental autografts), K-values were reduced when compared with the unmodified situation, but were significantly higher than with nontransplanted, duct-obliterated left lobes. Insulin-response curves of nontransplanted, duct-obliterated segments differed both qualitatively and quantitatively from the unmodified situation, but insulin-response curves of duct-obliterated segmental autografts showed only qualitative differences with the unmodified situation. It is concluded that duct obliteration rather than the absence of the right lobe is the predominant cause of reduced glucose tolerance with duct-obliterated left pancreatic lobes. It is suggested that duct obliteration affects the endocrine pancreas both in a qualitative and quantitative fashion. The qualitative effect is similarly demonstrable with segmental autografts and nontransplanted segments, but the quantitative effect is largely dissolved with autografting by virtue of caval as opposed to portal venous drainage.