Pancreas Research Paper

1. Describe the anatomic location of the pancreas relative to the other organs in the upper portion of the abdominal cavity. - The pancreas is about 6 inches long and sits across the back of the abdomen, behind the stomach and liver, leveled with the top of the small intestine and it also borders the liver, spleen and kidneys. The head of the pancreas is on the right side of the abdomen and is connected to the duodenum (the first section of the small intestine) through a small tube called the pancreatic duct. The narrow end of the pancreas, called the tail, extends to the left side of the body.

Insulin deficiency refers to when a person fails to secrete adequate levels of insulin during digestion of meals (Naseem et al., 2012). Producing adequate levels of insulin is essential for being able to overcome the increase of glucose levels in the body while eating, this is achieved by sending signals to the liver to reduce its production of endogenous glucose. However, after prolonged exposure to this disease, this affects the ability of β-cells to respond to rises in glucose levels. (Mazze, Strock, Simonson, & Bergenstal, 2004, p. 80). Located in the pancreas, β-cells, or Beta cells, are responsible for the production and storage of insulin (Resnick, 2014).

Insulin resistance is the first physiological change occurring in type two diabetes. In these type two diabetic patients, insulin is unable to move glucose into liver, kidney and muscle cells although insulin is able to attach properly to the cell surface receptors. In order to rectify this, most patients with type two diabetes start secreting normal to very high levels of insulin, which can initially overcome this resistance. After a while, the pancreas cannot keep up with this high insulin production and the cells become resistant to glucose intake. Persistent hyperglycemia or high blood glucose levels are not desirable since this causes damage to the beta cells of the pancreas that produces the insulin hormone. This damage to beta cells further hampers insulin synthesis and patients at this stage are categorized as full-blown diabetic. Such patients consistently show a hyperglycemia state even after hours of fasting ( Hinkle & Cheever,

If the pancreas can manage with your body’s high demand for insulin your blood sugar levels will remain normal and you would not become a diabetic. Because diabetes and PCOS is closely related it is monitored closely. It is shown that women with PCOS is in much greater risk in developing diabetes. Research has shown that once the pancreatic islet cells have become exhausted and depleted in the over production of insulin to satisfy the body requirements, your pancreas stop making insulin and your blood sugar becomes elevated. When that happens the patient becomes diabetic. Besides diabetes a woman with PCOS is more likely to develop uterine cancer and heart disease. Patients are also advised not to smoke while diagnosed with PCOS because it increases the risk for heart disease.

The pancreas produces the hormones insulin and glucagon. These help to maintain the correct level of blood-glucose. Small masses of special cells called islets of Langeryhans produce them, which are spread throughout the pancreas. Pancreatic juice in continually being produced but the production increases when there is food there. The pancreatic juice is an alkaline as it contains sodium bicarbonate which lowers how acid from the food. The pancreatic juice also contains the enzymes trypsinogen which is an inactive substance produced in the pancreas then the digestive enzyme trypsin is made in the duodenum and chymotrypsinogen which is the inactive form of chymotrypsin. Chymotrypsinogen gets changed into chymotrypsin by an enzyme called trypsin. When they are in the forms trypsin and chymotrypsin they break down protein into smaller pieces. There are also other enzymes in the pancreatic juice called carboxypeptidase and aminopeptidase convert the small protein pieces into amino acid. As well as that in the pancreatic juice also contains amylase which is a different enzyme that makes maltose by breaking down starch.

PCOS makes it difficult for the body to use the insulin hormone, which helps to convert starches and sugars and from foods into energy. This condition is called insulin resistance and can cause sugar, insulin and glucose to build up in the bloodstream.

Main Content: Women suffering from Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) are regularly found to have higher level of insulin in their bodies than normal. Insulin is created by cells in the pancreas, known as the islets of Langerhans. It helps the body cells to transform sugar (glucose) into energy.

The stimulus for insulin and glucagon release from the pancreas is humoral. When there is an increase of glucose in the body the pancreas releases insulin and therefore that would be an example of humoral stimulation (McKinley, 2016, p. 658, para 3).

Alcohol can have numerous effects on your body such as high blood pressure (hypertension), pain in the pancreas, shrinking frontal lobes poor coordination, slurred speech, it can put you in a diabetic danger zone, your liver takes most damage, you could suffer from blackouts, have shifty eyes you could become dependent in it you could have stomach distress, suffer from malnutrition, you could have major mouth problems, hallucinations you could have strange sensations, having to use the bathroom a lot you could be fighting fatigue, it could also cause infertility, muscle cramps birth defects, and not to mention the stress it puts on your heart.

The doctor may also take a blood test to determine if the jaundice is due to pancreatic cancer or liver disease. (Panno) Once the patient is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, they can choose from different treatment plans. When determining the person’s treatment plan, they take consider their age and expected lifespan, other serious health conditions, the stage of the cancer, if surgery can remove cancer, likelihood of curing the cancer, and how the person feels about side effects. For many patients, the part that most important is the controlling of pain. Some treatments for the cancer include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and other drugs. (Treating) Treating pancreatic cancer is very difficult due to the dense outer shell around the pancreatic tumor and nearly impossible to penetrate with cancer-killing drugs. “Wall is so tough that clinical trials with medications that are experimental designed to breach barrier had to be abandoned mainstream, drug so harsh they sicken already ailing patients,” said Doctor Abram Handly-Santana, a researcher who specializes in pancreatic cancer. (Ricks) Even though treating pancreatic cancer is difficult, some doctor decide to perform surgery to determine if the tumor is removeable and to determine the staging of the cancer to prescribe the best treatment. (Panno) The best

Pancreatic cancer is currently number four in cancer related deaths for both male and female. Why is pancreatic cancer awareness not reconsidered like breast cancer (second most common deaths in women.) Pancreatic cancer kills just about or more than breast cancer.

Beta cells are a type of cell found in the pancreatic islets of the pancreas and pose a dominant role in the regulation of normal carbohydrate metabolism. Human pancreases contain nearly one million pancreatic islets that spread throughout the parenchyma of the gland and each islet contains 1000 of cells of which 75% are beta cells[72]. Insulin first synthesized as pro-insulin in the endoplasmic reticulum and then processed into biologically active form inside the secretory granules. Beta cell release insulin in response to glucose. The beta-cell is electrically excitable and uses changes in membrane potential to couple variations in blood glucose to changes in insulin secretion.

Observation of the pancreas sections of the control rats revealed intact Langerhans' islets with well-defined edges and plump islets cells. The sections which were stained with insulin antisera revealed that β-cells were easily distinguishable in most islets especially in its peripheral parts (Fig. 1 a,b& Fig. 2a,b). Examination of the pancreatic sections of the diabetic rats revealed an extensive destruction of the Langerhans' islets. The islets had ill-defined boundaries and some necrotic areas were often noticed. Severe inflammatory cells infiltrations were observed. Some endocrine cells had vacuolization in their cytoplasm and others had no cytoplasmic secretion. Diabetic pancreas which was stained with insulin antisera displayed a profound

Most of the islets’ of the PRP treated group were seen closely associated with ducts. Several areas of stratification and invagination of the epithelial lining of the ducts were observed. Some areas showed small clusters of endocrine cells were closely associated with ducts and each islet cluster was encapsulated by connective tissue. Other islets appeared connecting to each other. These data could be the evident of the regenerative effect of PRP on the diabetic islets where pancreatic regeneration occurred through the proliferation of duct cells and its subsequent differentiation into new islets which was in accordance with Bonner-Weir et al., (2010). One of the most characteristic findings of this work was the appearance of scattered areas of the parenchyma which were arranged into small lobules with abundant connective tissue surrounding it. These lobules were formed of aggregates of small acini, small ducts, and numerous small islets which were separated by fibroblast like cells. Those tactics of pancreatic regeneration are also similar to

When there is not enough glucose present in the blood the body reacts quickly to increase the blood glucose level returning to set point (5mM). The sensor detects the change and stimulates the alpha cells (in the islets of Langerhans located in the pancreas) to produce glucagon and secrete it into the blood stream. Glucagon is a hormone produced by the alpha cells in islets of Langerhans in the pancreas, the effects of glucagon are opposite of the effects induced by the hormone insulin. The two hormones work together to maintain blood glucose levels in balance. From here, the glucagon is released into the body to respond to the low blood glucose levels by stimulating the liver to break down the stored glycogen to be released into the blood as glucose. With the glucose released into the blood this will return the blood glucose levels to the optimum set point (5mM) where the body is functioning properly and the homeostatic system has served its purpose. Both of these processes for low and high blood glucose levels is called a negative feedback loop and is a variation of a homeostatic