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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.
The pancreas produces and releases important digestive enzymes in the pancreatic juice that it delivers to the duodenum. [24] The pancreas lies below and at the back of the stomach. It connects to the duodenum via the pancreatic duct which it joins near to the bile duct's connection where both the bile and pancreatic juice can act on the chyme ...
PaSCs are located within the peri-acinar spaces of the pancreas and extrude long cytoplasmic processes that surround the base of the acinus. [2] PaSCs compose 4% of the total cell mass in the gland [4] Stellate cells derive their name from their star shape and are located in other organs such as the kidney and lungs. [2]
The exocrine pancreas is one of two compartments that include digestive-acting acinar cells and duct cells.They represent an extension of the intercalated duct into each pancreatic acinus. [1] These cells are commonly known as duct cells , and secrete an aqueous bicarbonate solution under stimulation by the hormone secretin .
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.
Ductal cells comprise about 10% of the pancreas by number and about 4% in volume. Its function is to secrete bicarbonate and mucins and to form the tubule network that transfers enzymes made by acinar cells to the duodenum. Ductal cells have a proliferation rate of about 0.5% in normal adults, but mitotic activity goes up when the pancreas is ...
The hypothalamus, pancreas, and thymus also function as endocrine glands, among other functions. (The hypothalamus and pituitary glands are organs of the neuroendocrine system . One of the most important functions of the hypothalamus—it is located in the brain adjacent to the pituitary gland—is to link the endocrine system to the nervous ...
The major function of the lungs is gas exchange between the lungs and the blood. [67] The alveolar and pulmonary capillary gases equilibrate across the thin blood–air barrier . [ 34 ] [ 68 ] [ 69 ] This thin membrane (about 0.5 –2 μm thick) is folded into about 300 million alveoli, providing an extremely large surface area (estimates ...