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β-cell regeneration is an area under active investigation for the future treatment of diabetes, but little is known about the patterns and dynamics of prenatal β-cell development in humans. In particular, the quantitative changes in β-cell mass in the developing pancreas have not been elucidated in detail. We addressed the following questions in prenatal humans: i) what is the timing of β-cell occurrence and islet growth? ii) What are the dynamics of β-cell replication and apoptosis?

Pancreatic tissue was obtained from 65 human embryos and foetuses aged between 8 weeks post conception (p.c.) and birth. Sections were stained for insulin, glucagon, Ki67 (proliferation marker), TUNEL (apoptosis marker) and CD31 (blood vessel marker), and morphometric analyses were performed.

β-cells were detected from gestational week 9 …