Figure 2

Blood vessels in the pancreas. (A) In normal pancreas, the blood vessels are full of red blood cells as expected. (B), (C) Partial pancreatectomy results in a dramatic homing of cells clearly visualized in the blood vessels in large numbers on day 5. These cells are distinctly spherical, with high nucleocytoplasmic ratio and minimal cytoplasm, and also appear as clumps in places. This cell population is distinct from the neutrophils observed on day 1 (Figure 1D). The presence of these stem cells in clumps in places possibly reflects clonal and rapid expansion of stem cells with incomplete cytokinesis. This homing of stem cells probably represents the process of regeneration and is not an inflammatory response. Scale bar represents 20 μm.