Nerves can be severely reshaped in human pancreatic diseases such as chronic pancreatitis (CP) and pancreatic cancer, in which pancreatic nerves can undergo hypertrophy or hyperplasia. This neural plasticity is associated with neuropathic pain. Although there are several animal models of CP, pancreatic neuropathy is not well-characterized. Thus, the translational value of these in-vivo models cannot be entirely ascertained for the study of neural plasticity. We now describe spontaneous alterations characteristic of pancreatic neural plasticity in a lamb. Microscopic lesions of chronic sclerosing pancreatitis were associated with neuronal hypertrophy and hyperplasia. Although CP and pancreatic tumours are common in many animal species, to the authors’ knowledge, spontaneous occurrence of associated pancreatic neural plasticity has not been reported in any non-human species. Sheep might be a suitable animal model for the study of this condition.

在慢性胰腺炎（CP）和胰腺癌等人类胰腺疾病中，神经可以严重重塑，其中胰腺神经可以肥大或增生。这种神经可塑性与神经性疼痛有关。尽管有几种 CP 的动物模型，但胰腺神经病变的特征并不明确。因此，对于神经可塑性的研究，不能完全确定这些体内模型的转化价值。我们现在描述羔羊胰腺神经可塑性的自发改变特征。慢性硬化性胰腺炎的显微病变与神经元肥大和增生有关。尽管 CP 和胰腺肿瘤在许多动物物种中很常见，但据作者所知，在任何非人类物种中尚未报告自发发生相关的胰腺神经可塑性。绵羊可能是研究这种情况的合适动物模型。