Overview of the Pancreas

Structurally speaking, the human pancreas consists of two organs in one: an exocrine gland and an endocrine gland. The exocrine gland is made up of pancreatic acinar cells and duct cells that produce digestive enzymes and sodium bicarbonate, respectively. The primary function of the exocrine pancreas is to secrete the digestive enzymes responsible for normal digestion and absorption of daily foodstuffs, and finally assimilation of nutrients into our body. The endocrine gland, meanwhile, is made up of five types of secretory islet cells and secretes peptide hormones for the maintenance of glucose homeostasis. The pancreatic secretory functions are finely regulated by neurocrine, endocrine, and paracrine as well as intracrine mechanisms. In view of this fact, inappropriate activation or inactivation of the pathways mediating the pancreas’s fine regulatory mechanisms has considerable impacts on health and disease. Nevertheless, the underlying local mechanisms by which pancreatic function and dysfunction are regulated remain poorly understood.