Diversity of enteroendocrine cells investigated at cellular and subcellular levels: the need for a new classification scheme

Enteroendocrine cells were historically classified by a letter code, each linked to a single hormone, deduced to be the only hormone produced by the cell. One type, the L cell, was recognised to store and secrete two products, peptide YY (PYY) and glucagon-related peptides. Many other exceptions to the one-cell one-hormone classifications have been reported over the last 40years or so, and yet the one-hormone dogma has persisted. In the last 6years, a plethora of data has appeared that makes the concept unviable. Here, we describe the evidence that multiple hormone transcripts and their products reside in single cells and evidence that the hormones are often, but not always, processed into separate storage vesicles. It has become clear that most enteroendocrine cells contain multiple hormones. For example, most secretin cells contain 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), and in mouse many of these also contain cholecystokinin (CCK). Furthermore, CCK cells also commonly store ghrelin, glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (GIP), glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), neurotensin, and PYY. Several hormones, for example, secretin and 5-HT, are in separate storage vesicles at a subcellular level. Hormone patterns can differ considerably between species. Another complication is that relative levels of expression vary substantially. This means that data are significantly influenced by the sensitivities of detection techniques. For example, a hormone that can be detected in storage vesicles by super-resolution microscopy may not be above threshold for detection by conventional fluorescence microscopy. New nomenclature for cell clusters with common attributes will need to be devised and old classifications abandoned.