Spontaneously occurring neoplasms and non-neoplastic proliferative changes of the pancreatic cells in aging Sprague-Dawley and Long-Evans rats were examined for the presence and distribution of pancreatic hormones using immunocytochemical techniques. Islet cell tumors were indistinguishable in the two rat strains. They were composed principally of insulin-containing beta cells, but had additional and variable small proportions of cells that stained for somatostatin, glucagon, or rarely, pancreatic polypeptide. The heterogeneity in these spontaneous islet cell neoplasms was similar to that reported in humans as well as those induced in rats by streptozotocin. Hyperplasia of the islet cells also mainly affected the beta cells, but the overall pattern of immunocytochemical staining usually remained similar to that of normal islets, a point of distinction from islet cell neoplasms. In addition, rats with exocrine atrophy and fibrosis were found to have considerable disruption and focal proliferation of the islets.
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