How Does The Endocrine Function Of The Pancreas

I thought I would cover Dr. Schuster’s question regarding the pancreas. The islet cells (islets of Langerhans), located in the tail of the pancreas, perform the endocrine function of the pancreas and regulate blood sugar, because they release hormones directly into the blood, such as, insulin to lower blood sugar and glucagon to raise it (The Pancreas Center). The head of the pancreas nestles in the curvature of the duodenum, (first part of the small intestine) which contains most of the acini cells that form acinar ducts that lead to a main pancreatic duct which runs through the center of the pancreas. The acinar cells perform the exocrine function of the pancreas by producing and excreting enzymes that aid in digestion. After we eat, the stomach breaks down food and produces a mixture called chyme that is proportionally passed through the pyloric sphincter into the

The pancreas then secretes pancreatic juices (an alkaline mixture) containing water, enzymes, zymogens, sodium bicarbonate, and electrolytes though the pancreatic duct, which leads to the hepatopancreatic ampulla, and ends in the duodenum where the pancreatic juices meet with the chyme from the stomach. Trypsinogen is a zymogen that is autocatalytic, where enterokinase starts the process by converting trypsinogen into trypsin and trypsin then continues to convert trypsinogen into itself. Trypsin also converts two other zymogens into enzymes, where it turns chymotrypsinogen into chymotrypsin, and procarboxypeptidase into carboxypeptidase (Saladin,