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islets of Langerhans

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islet /is·let/ (-lit) an island.
islets of Langerhans  irregular microscopic structures scattered throughout the pancreas and comprising its endocrine portion. They contain the alpha cells, which secrete the hyperglycemic factor glucagon; the beta cells, which secrete insulin; the delta cells, which secrete somatostatin; and the PP (or F ) cells, which secrete pancreatic polypeptide. Degeneration of the beta cells is one of the causes of diabetes mellitus.

islets of Langerhans
pl.n.
Irregular clusters of endocrine cells scattered throughout the tissue of the pancreas that secrete insulin and glucagon. Also called islands of Langerhans.

Islets of Langerhans
Special structures in the pancreas responsible for insulin secretion among other functions. They are named for Paul Langerhans, the German researcher who first identified them in 1869.

islets of Langerhans.


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Research funded by the charity Diabetes UK has identified a transplant procedure, which can take just 45 minutes, to inject cells from the islets of Langerhans tissue, a hormone-producing cluster in the pancreas, which can be extracted from a dead donor.
He is recognized for developing techniques to isolate and culture clusters of cells known as the islets of langerhans found throughout the pancreas.
After removing extraneous proteins and immune cells from these so-called islets of Langerhans, physicians injected them into diabetes patients via a large vein in the liver.
 
 
 
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