Pancreas Pancreas The pancreas is an organ of the digestive system and endocrine system of vertebrates. In humans, it is located in the abdominal cavity behind the stomach. The pancreas is a mixed gland, having both an endocrine and an exocrine function. As an endocrine gland, it secretes into the blood several important hormones, including insulin, glucagon, somatostatin, and pancreatic polypeptide. As an exocrine gland, it secretes pancreatic juice into the duodenum through the pancreatic duct. This juice contains bicarbonate, which neutralizes acid entering the duodenum from the stomach; and digestive enzymes, which break down carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids in ingested
Growth hormone therapy extreme proportional shortness, acquired pejorative connotations and is no longer used in medical contexts. By the middle of the twentieth century, endocrinologists understood the clinical features of growth hormone deficiency. GH is a protein hormone, like insulin, which had been purified from pig and cow pancreases for treatment of type 1 diabetes since the 1920s. However, pig and cow GH did not work at all in humans, due to greater species-to-species variation of molecular structure (i.e., insulin is considered more "evolutionarily conserved" than GH). Extracted growth hormone was used since the late 1950s until the late 1980s when its use