Development of the endocrine system alpha cells. The insulin concentration within the fetal pancreas is 3.6 pmol/g at seven to ten weeks, which rises to 30 pmol/g at 16–25 weeks of gestation. Near term, the insulin concentration increases to 93 pmol/g. The endocrine cells have dispersed throughout the body within 10 weeks. At 31 weeks of development, the islets of Langerhans have differentiated. While the fetal pancreas has functional beta cells by 14 to 24 weeks of gestation, the amount of insulin that is released into the bloodstream is relatively low. In a study of pregnant women carrying fetuses in the mid-gestation and near term
Exocrine gland glands contain a glandular portion and a duct portion, the structures of which can be used to classify the gland. Exocrine glands are named apocrine glands, holocrine glands, or merocrine glands based on how their products are secreted. Exocrine gland Exocrine glands are glands that produce and secrete substances onto an epithelial surface by way of a duct. Examples of exocrine glands include sweat, salivary, mammary, ceruminous, lacrimal, sebaceous, and mucous. Exocrine glands are one of two types of glands in the human body, the other being endocrine glands, which secrete their products directly into the bloodstream. The liver and