open access
Decay score: a guide to the immunoreactivity of human pancreatic islets in autopsy specimen


- Department of Anatomy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
- Department of Pathology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
- Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
open access
Abstract
Background: The pancreas is an exo-endocrine organ that undergoes rapid autolysis soon after death, which limits its utility in academics and research. The timeline of autolytic changes of pancreatic islets and its immunoreactivity is limited in the literature. Decay score has been used to grade the autolytic changes in organs like the brain, lung and liver. However, reports are not available in the pancreas/pancreatic islets. Knowledge regarding the decay score may be used as a torchbearer for the immunoreactivity of human pancreatic islets in autopsy cases. The present study is aimed to provide an optimal cut-off time based on the decay score before which pancreatic specimens should be collected for the purpose of immunohistochemical studies (IHC) of pancreatic islets.
Materials and methods: Serial sections of 20 adult human pancreases obtained from the autopsy were subjected to haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and immunohistochemical staining. Autolytic changes of pancreatic islets were graded by using decay score in H&E sections, which was compared with the results of the immunohistochemical reactivity of pancreatic islets in IHC sections.
Results and Conclusions: Pancreatic islets immunoreactivity was found to be well preserved in the samples collected early within 9 hours with a decay score of less than 1.4. There was an inverse relation of decay score and immunoreactivity of pancreatic islets. The decay score of less than 1.4 has better-preserved immunoreactivity than having more than 1.4. This knowledge will help researchers working in the field of the endocrine pancreas.
Abstract
Background: The pancreas is an exo-endocrine organ that undergoes rapid autolysis soon after death, which limits its utility in academics and research. The timeline of autolytic changes of pancreatic islets and its immunoreactivity is limited in the literature. Decay score has been used to grade the autolytic changes in organs like the brain, lung and liver. However, reports are not available in the pancreas/pancreatic islets. Knowledge regarding the decay score may be used as a torchbearer for the immunoreactivity of human pancreatic islets in autopsy cases. The present study is aimed to provide an optimal cut-off time based on the decay score before which pancreatic specimens should be collected for the purpose of immunohistochemical studies (IHC) of pancreatic islets.
Materials and methods: Serial sections of 20 adult human pancreases obtained from the autopsy were subjected to haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and immunohistochemical staining. Autolytic changes of pancreatic islets were graded by using decay score in H&E sections, which was compared with the results of the immunohistochemical reactivity of pancreatic islets in IHC sections.
Results and Conclusions: Pancreatic islets immunoreactivity was found to be well preserved in the samples collected early within 9 hours with a decay score of less than 1.4. There was an inverse relation of decay score and immunoreactivity of pancreatic islets. The decay score of less than 1.4 has better-preserved immunoreactivity than having more than 1.4. This knowledge will help researchers working in the field of the endocrine pancreas.
Keywords
autolysis, pancreatic islets, immunohistochemistry, decay score, human pancreas


Title
Decay score: a guide to the immunoreactivity of human pancreatic islets in autopsy specimen
Journal
Issue
Article type
Original article
Pages
101-106
Published online
2021-01-22
Page views
968
Article views/downloads
492
DOI
10.5603/FM.a2021.0002
Pubmed
Bibliographic record
Folia Morphol 2022;81(1):101-106.
Keywords
autolysis
pancreatic islets
immunohistochemistry
decay score
human pancreas
Authors
P. K. Ravi
S. Purkait
S. R. Singh
P. R. Mishra


- Abunasef SK, Amin HA, Abdel-Hamid GA. A histological and immunohistochemical study of beta cells in streptozotocin diabetic rats treated with caffeine. Folia Histochem Cytobiol. 2014; 52(1): 42–50.
- Banting FG, Best CH, Collip JB, et al. Pancreatic extracts in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. Can Med Assoc J. 1922; 12(3): 141–146.
- Campbell-Thompson ML, Montgomery EL, Foss RM, et al. Collection protocol for human pancreas. J Vis Exp. 2012(63): e4039.
- Cocariu EA, Mageriu V, Stăniceanu F, et al. Correlations between the autolytic changes and postmortem interval in refrigerated cadavers. Rom J Intern Med. 2016; 54(2): 105–112.
- Hilling DE, Bouwman E, Terpstra OT, et al. Effects of donor-, pancreas-, and isolation-related variables on human islet isolation outcome: a systematic review. Cell Transplant. 2014; 23(8): 921–928.
- Holtzer RL, Van Lancker JL. Early changes in pancreas autolysis. Am J Pathol. 1962; 40: 331–336.
- Ionescu-Tirgoviste C, Gagniuc PA, Gubceac E, et al. A 3D map of the islet routes throughout the healthy human pancreas. Sci Rep. 2015; 5: 14634.
- Jones LC, Clark A. Beta-cell neogenesis in type 2 diabetes. Diabetes. 2001; 50 Suppl 1: S186–S187.
- Lesnikova I, Schreckenbach MN, Kristensen MP, et al. Usability of Immunohistochemistry in Forensic Samples With Varying Decomposition. Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 2018; 39(3): 185–191.
- Olehnik SK, Fowler JL, Avramovich G, et al. Quantitative analysis of intra- and inter-individual variability of human beta-cell mass. Sci Rep. 2017; 7(1): 16398.
- Poudel A, Fowler JL, Zielinski MC, et al. Stereological analyses of the whole human pancreas. Sci Rep. 2016; 6: 34049.
- Ravi PK, Purkait S, Agrawal U, et al. Regional variation of human pancreatic islets dimension and its impact on beta cells in Indian population. Islets. 2019; 11(6): 141–151.
- Siriwardana RC, Deen KI, Hevawesenthi J. Postmortem sampling of the pancreas for histological examination: what is the optimum cut-off time? JOP. 2010; 11(1): 87–88.
- Suvarna S, Layton C, Bancroft JD. Bancroft’s Theory and Practice of Histology Techniques. 7th ed. Churchill Livingstone, China 2013.
- Wang X, Misawa R, Zielinski MC, et al. Regional differences in islet distribution in the human pancreas--preferential beta-cell loss in the head region in patients with type 2 diabetes. PLoS One. 2013; 8(6): e67454.
- Wang X, Zielinski MC, Misawa R, et al. Quantitative analysis of pancreatic polypeptide cell distribution in the human pancreas. PLoS One. 2013; 8(1): e55501.
- Yagihashi S, Inaba W, Mizukami H. Dynamic pathology of islet endocrine cells in type 2 diabetes: beta-cell growth, death, regeneration and their clinical implications. J Diabetes Investig. 2016; 7(2): 155–165.