The Pancreas
The Pancreas
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Figure 1 - Pancreas in Relation to the Small Intestine, Spleen, Liver, and Gallbladder
The pancreas is split into four sections from the duodenum to the spleen as the head, neck, body, and tail. A main pancreatic duct lies throughout, joining with the common bile duct at the ampulla of Vater and entering the dudoenum through the sphincter of Oddi. The pancreatic duct on the pancreas splits into interlobar ducts, then into interlobular ducts. Interlobular ducts contain exocrine glands with secretory acini and intercalated duct cells.
Figure 2 is a pancreatic exocrine gland. When enteroendocrine cells in the duodenum sense chyme entering, they release secretin and CCK hormones into the blood stream. Secretin signals the intercalated duct cells to release bicarbonate, the alkaline substance for neutralizing acidity. CCK signals acini cells to secrete pancreatic juice. Pancreatic juice is secreted as unactivated enzymes, known as zymogens, like trypsoinogen and chymotrypsinogen. They are unactivated for the purpose of protecting the pancreas. Enteroendocrine cells secrete enterokinases to activate the enzymes in the duodenum, which kickstarts an auto-activation process that allows enzymes to activate themselves.
Figure 2 - Histology of a Pancreatic Gland
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