Association Between Endocrine Pancreas and Ductal System. More than an Epiphenomenon of Endocrine Differentiation and Development?

Eugenio Bertelli ^1* and Moïse Bendayan ¹

¹ Department of Pharmacology "Giorgio Segre", Section of Morphology, University of Siena, Siena, Italy (EB) and Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada (MB)

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: bertelli5{at}unisi.it.

Submitted on February 1, 2005
Accepted on 11 May 2005

	Abstract

Traditional histological descriptions of the pancreas distinguish between the exocrine and the endocrine pancreas as if they were two functionally distinct glands. This view has been proven incorrect and can be considered as obsolete. Interactions between acinar and islet tissues have been well established through numerous studies that reveal the existence of anatomical and functional relationships between these compartments of the gland. Less attention, however, has traditionally been paid to the relationships occurring between the endocrine pancreas and the ductal system. Associations between islet tissue and ducts are considered by most researchers as only a transient epiphenomenon of endocrine development. This article reviews the evidence that has emerged in the last 10 years demonstrating the existence of stable, close and systematic relationships between these two pancreatic compartments. Functional and patho-physiological implications are considered and the existence of an "acinar-duct-islet" axis is put forward. The pancreas appears nowadays to be an integrated organ composed of three functionally related components for well orchestrated endocrine and exocrine physiological responses.

Key Words: pancreas, pancreatic ducts, islets of Langerhans, duct secretion, hormone secretion, bicarbonates, pancreatic juice

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