The Endocrine Pancreas

The secretions of the exocrine pancreas provide for digestion of a meal into components that are then available for processing and absorption by the intestinal epithelium. Without the exocrine pancreas, malabsorption and malnutrition result. This chapter describes the cellular participants responsible for the secretion of digestive enzymes and fluid that in combination provide a pancreatic secretion that accomplishes the digestive functions of the gland. Key cellular participants, the acinar cell and the duct cell, are responsible for digestive enzyme and fluid secretion, respectively, of the exocrine pancreas. This chapter describes the neurohumoral pathways that mediate the pancreatic response to a meal as well as details of the cellular mechanisms that are necessary for the organ responses, including protein synthesis and transport and ion transports, and the regulation of these responses by intracellular signaling systems. Examples of pancreatic diseases resulting from dysfunction in cellular mechanisms provide emphasis of the importance of the normal physiologic mechanisms.

Transplantation, Bioengineering, and Regeneration of the Endocrine Pancreas, Volume 1, sets a new standard in transplant and regenerative medicine. The book details the-state-of-the-art in modern whole pancreas and islet transplantation, including donor selection, immunosuppression, complications, allograft pathology, and more. As regenerative medicine is changing the premise of solid organ transplantation, this volume catalogs the technologies being developed and the methods being implemented to bioengineer or regenerate the endocrine pancreas in order to more effectively treat diabetes. Edited and authored by unparalleled leaders in the field, this new volume argues for a much needed synergy between organ transplantation and regenerative medicine. Provides comprehensive and cutting-edge knowledge of whole pancreas and islet transplantation Includes sections that address donor selection, immunosuppression, complications, allograft pathology, and more Offers an update on the progress of regenerative medicine research aimed at beta cells replacement in the treatment of diabetes

Transplantation, Bioengineering, and Regeneration of the Endocrine Pancreas, Volume 2, sets a new standard in transplant and regenerative medicine. The book details the state-of-the-art in modern islet auto-transplantation, also discussing current progress in regenerative medicine research in diabetes medicine. Regenerative medicine is changing the premise of solid organ transplantation, hence this volume catalogs technologies being developed and methods being implemented. Bioengineering and regenerating beta cells, clinical pancreas and islet transplantation, tissue engineering, biomaterial sciences, stem cell biology and developmental biology are all addressed and applied directly to diabetes medicine. Provides comprehensive and cutting-edge knowledge of whole pancreas and islet transplantation Addresses imaging, treatment, scaffold technology, the use of stem cells to generate insulin, 3D printing, and more Offers an update on the progress of regenerative medicine research aimed at beta cell replacement for the treatment of diabetes

Dr. Robert L. Jackson, Professor of Child Health at the Uni versity of Missouri-Columbia, decided to retire from clinical practice in 1977 and the Department of Child Health planned a con ference in his honor. The Thirteenth Annual MidweSt Conference on Endocrinology and Metabolism also was in the planning stages and scheduled for two days in the fall. It seemed appropriate to com bine the two into an expanded three-day conference. In view of Dr. Jackson's international reputation in the study and care of children with diabetes mellitus, the conference topic was not dif ficult to find. Experts in this field were delighted to be asked to speak at a conference in Dr. Jackson's honor. We selected a number of excellent speakers to survey the physiology and pathophy siology of pancreatic hormones and their effects in diabetes mel litus, to discuss current knowledge of the microvascular complica tions of the disease, and to put it all into the proper historical perspective of where we have been and where we are going. We think the conference achieved its objective to pay meaningful trib ute to a distinguished member of the scientific community. As with any conference, the conversion of the presentations and discussions to the printed page is a long and arduous process. Many manuscripts were completed well after the conference and references often are more recent than the date of the conference.

Diabetes mellitus represents one of the most frequent and serious clinical syn dromes in contemporary medicine. Since the end of the nineteenth century, the endocrine pancreas has been implicated in the pathogenesis of this disease. Several pathologists of the twentieth century detected various lesions and mor phologic alterations in the pancreatic islets of diabetic patients, but the patho physiologic basis of their findings remained long obscure. The systematic mi croscopic work of WILLY GEPTS clarified the views and related the variety in histopathology to differences in origin, duration and clinical expression of the disease. Over the past two decades, the concept of a multifactorial origin of diabetes has become widely accepted. Various agents and mechanisms have been identified which can lead to a quantitative or qualitative deficit in pancre atic B-cells. The purpose of this book is to bring an update on the many path ways which may induce an absolute or relative insufficiency in insulin release and hence a diabetic state. Rather than bringing a complete account on all re search relevant to the understanding of the pathology of the diabetic pancreas, the authors of the various chapters of this volume have focussed on selected processes which can impair B-cell function, survival or regeneration.

This book attempts to explore the contribution that biochemistry has made, thus far, to our understanding of the endocrine pancreas and its relationship to diabetes mellitus. It was written with the aim of using an important clinical problem to illustrate, to medical students, that there are many aspects of the biochemistry taught in the early years which have direct relevance to clinical medicine. Furthermore, it is hoped that such information might provide biochemistry students with a frame work on which to base further studies. To this end a selection of recent references has been placed at the end of each chapter. In spite of considerable advances in our understanding of diabetes mellitus, it is still a disease which many physicians do not seem to com prehend. This is in part related to their lack of understanding of the molecular biology of the disease. Advances in this area have been dramatic in recent years and we are now able to offer a molecular basis for a rational approach to therapy. It may be therefore that this book will provide some physicians with the information they require to help them gain a deeper understanding of the disease. I hope that everyone who reads this book is able to capture some of the fascination that the islets of Langerhans hold for myself and the many other workers actively engaged in trying to unravel their mys teries.