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Histology of the pancreatic islets
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The pancreas does two different jobs within a single organ, and under the microscope it shows. One part is exocrine, meaning it sends what it makes out through ducts. The other part is endocrine, meaning it releases what it makes, hormones, into the blood.
The endocrine part is not tucked away in a corner. It is spread out in small, clearly bounded groups called the islets of Langerhans. The name comes from that: on the slide they look like islands of different cells in the middle of the rest of the tissue.
Inside each islet there is not one type of cell but several, each with its own hormone. The alpha cells secrete glucagon. The beta cells release insulin. The delta cells synthesize somatostatin. They sit mixed together in the same group, neighbors to one another, which is exactly what lets them work in a coordinated way.
In brief
The pancreas is a composite organ that carries out two jobs at once, one exocrine and one endocrine, and the islets belong to the second.
That endocrine portion is arranged as the islets of Langerhans, discrete clusters of endocrine cells scattered through the pancreatic tissue.
Within a single islet, several types of endocrine cell live side by side: alpha cells secrete glucagon, beta cells release insulin, and delta cells synthesize somatostatin.
Sources (2)
- National Center for Biotechnology InformationPhysiology, Pancreas. StatPearls
- National Center for Biotechnology InformationAnatomy, Abdomen and Pelvis, Pancreas. StatPearls
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