Human Anatomy (with the Fundamentals of Dynamic and Sports Morphology) - Ivanitsky, M. F. 2008

The Doctrine of the Organs of Internal Secretion
The Endocrine Part of the Pancreas (Pancreatic Islets)

The Endocrine portion of the Pancreas is formed by islets, which are particularly abundant in its tail, although they are also found in other regions. The size of the islets ranges from 0.1 to 0.3 mm in diameter. The total weight of the islets accounts for approximately 1/35 of the weight of the entire gland. The islets are richly supplied with Blood Vessels. The islet Cells have a lighter Cytoplasm than the Cells of the exocrine portion of the pancreas that produce pancreatic juice. As a result, the islets can sometimes be observed on a cross-section with the naked eye or using a magnifying Glass.

The endocrine portion of the gland produces antagonist Hormones—Insulin and Glucagon—which are involved in carbohydrate and Lipid METABOLISM. Insulin increases the permeability of Cell membranes to glucose and promotes the storage of CARBOHYDRATES as Glycogen in The Liver and Muscles. Glucagon stimulates The breakdown of glycogen and fats to release energy. During intense muscular activity, blood insulin levels decrease, while glucagon levels increase.

Damage to the pancreatic islets leads to Diabetes Mellitus, a condition characterized by the excessive excretion of sugar from the body through the Kidneys (in contrast to diabetes insipidus, which is associated with hypofunction of the posterior pituitary).



Last update: 08/08/2026

Editorial and Educational Adaptation: This material has been compiled based on the primary/original source text. The project team performed an editorial review, corrected technical inaccuracies, structured sections, and adapted the content for an educational format.

What was processed:

  • elimination of formatting defects (OCR errors, structural breaks, corrupted characters);
  • editorial organization of content;
  • standardization of terminology in accordance with academic sources;
  • verification of factual statements against the original source text.

All mentions of the author, publication year, and origin of the primary text have been preserved in accordance with the source.