Pancreas

The pancreas is an organ located in the abdomen of vertebrates, in the retroperitoneum, in front of the aorta and the inferior vena cava, and behind the stomach. It is a vital organ.

It is an accessory gland of the digestive tract that is amphicrine in nature—that is, it performs both exocrine and endocrine functions, carried out by different tissues. The pancreas produces, on the one hand, pancreatic juice, a secretion rich in bicarbonates and enzymes (amylases, lipases, peptidases (proteolytic enzymes), ribonucleases, and deoxyribonucleases) that are released into the duodenum and aid in digestion; and, on the other hand, hormones released into the bloodstream that perform various functions: glucagon, insulin, somatostatin, and pancreatic polypeptide.