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The pancreas is an organ of the digestive system and endocrine system of vertebrates. In humans, it is located in the abdomen behind the stomach and functions as a gland. The pancreas is a mixed or heterocrine gland, i.e., it has both an endocrine and a digestive exocrine function. [2] 99% of the pancreas is exocrine and 1% is endocrine.
There are about 1 million islets distributed throughout the pancreas of a healthy adult human. While islets vary in size, the average diameter is about 0.2 mm. [5]:928 Each islet is separated from the surrounding pancreatic tissue by a thin, fibrous, connective tissue capsule which is continuous with the fibrous connective tissue that is interwoven throughout the rest of the pancreas.
There are several organs and other components involved in the digestion of food. The organs known as the accessory digestive organs are the liver, gall bladder and pancreas. Other components include the mouth, salivary glands, tongue, teeth and epiglottis. The largest structure of the digestive system is the gastrointestinal tract (GI tract).
The pancreatic duct or duct of Wirsung (also, the major pancreatic duct due to the existence of an accessory pancreatic duct) is a duct joining the pancreas to the common bile duct. This supplies it with pancreatic juice from the exocrine pancreas, which aids in digestion.
The pancreas serves multiple roles within mammalian organisms. It plays a role in the digestive system and the endocrine system making it an organ and a very important gland. [2] PP cells tend to located in the pancreatic islets, and are one of the rarer pancreatic cell types. [1] Some small clusters may also be found surrounded by exocrine ...
Function Group [footnote 1] Subgroup Germ layer of origin Biomarkers Brunner's gland cell crypt basal stem cells in duodenum, duodenal submucosa [citation needed] enzyme and alkaline mucus secretion Exocrine secretory epithelial cells Endoderm: Insulated goblet cell: respiratory and digestive tracts mucus secretion Foveolar cell: stomach Chief cell
The human adult pancreas has an ε-cell composition of about 0.13 grams. [5] Sex and age do not affect the average number of ε-cells in islets. However, an inverse relationship between BMI and number of ε-cells is noted: as body weight increases, ε-cells decrease in number. [ 7 ]
Enteroendocrine cells are specialized cells of the gastrointestinal tract and pancreas with endocrine function. They produce gastrointestinal hormones or peptides in response to various stimuli and release them into the bloodstream for systemic effect, diffuse them as local messengers, or transmit them to the enteric nervous system to activate nervous responses.