Digestive Glands

Li Jinru (Jennifer)
Department of Histology and
Embryology
1 Salivary Glands
 Salivary Glands
• Compound tubuloacinar glands
– Acini
• Glandular Cells
• Myoepithelial Cells
• Basement Membrane
– Ducts
 Salivary Glands
• 1.1 Acini
– Serous Acinus
– Mucous Acinus
– Mixed Acinus
 Salivary Glands
• 1.1.1 Serous acinus
• serous secretory cells
– L.M.:
• round nucleus
• acidophilic zymogen granules
– Function:
• to secrete serous
 Salivary Glands
• 1.1.2 Mucous acinus
• mucous secretory cells
– L.M.:
• flattened nucleus
• large mucinogen granules
– F:
• to secrete mucous
 Salivary Glands
• 1.1.3 Mixed Acinus
• two types of secretory cells
– Demilune—a small group of serous cells
arranged in a half-moon fashion and attached
on one side of a mucous acinus
– Function:
• to secrete mucous and serous
 Salivary Glands
• 1.2 Ducts
– Intercalated ducts
– Striated ducts (Secretory ducts)
– Interlobular ducts
– Lobar ducts
– Major excretory duct
 Striated
duct

Serous
cell

Intercalated
duct
 Mucous
cell

Demilune

Striated
duct
 Salivary Glands
• Parotids
• Submandibular glands
• Sublingual glands
Pancreas
 Pancreas
• Exocrine Portion
– Acini: Serous acini
• No myoepithelial cells
• Centroacinar cells
• F: To secrete pancreatic juice.
– Ducts
Intercalated ducts → Intralobular ducts →
Interlobular ducts → Pancreatic ducts
→Duodenal lumen
 Pancreas
• Endocrine Portion-Pancreatic Islets
– small clusters of endocrine cells
– scattered among the exocrine acini
– rich in fenestrated capillaries
– consists of four different cell-types
 Serous
acinus

Pancreas
islet

Capillary
 Pancreas
• A-cells (20%)
—located at the periphery
F: To secrete glucagon
• B-cells (75%)
—located near the center
F: To secrete insulin
• D-cells (5%)
F: To secrete somatostatin
• PP-cells
F: To secrete pancreatic polypeptide
Liver
 Liver
• Hepatic Lobule

– basic unit of liver

– a polygonal prism
 Liver
• Composition:
– A central vein
– Hepatocytes→ hepatic plates
– Hepatic sinusoids
– Perisinusoidal space (Space of Disse)
– Bile canaliculi
 Liver
• Central Vein
– the smallest branch of the portal vein
– Its endothelial cells are continuous with
adjacent sinusoids
 Liver
• Hepatic Plates
– be consists of a row of closely-packed hepatocytes
– be anastomosed and radiate from the central vein
– there are some pores
 Liver
• Hepatocytes
– L.M.:
• polygonal cell
• spherical nucleus
• cytoplasm is acidophilic
 Liver
• E.M.:
– Mitochondria
– Golgi complexes
– RER and free
ribosomes
– SER
– Lysosomes
– Microbodies
– Inclusions
 Liver
• Hepatocytes have 3
kinds of surfaces
– The surface adjacent to
a sinusoid
– The surface of adjacent
cells
– The surface facing the
bile canaliculus
 Liver
• Hepatic Sinusoids
– form an extensive sponge-like structure.
– irregular
– lined by endothelial cells and Kupffer cells.
• Kupffer cells
– Scattered;
– Function: Phagocytose remnants of
degenerating erythrocytes
 Liver
• Perisinusoidal Space (Space of Disse)
– It’s an space between the endothelial cells of the
sinusoid and the hepatocytes.
– Metabolic exchanges between the liver and the
blood occur here.
• Bile Canaliculi
– be formed by the indented plasmalemmas of
opposing cells.
– tight junctions (Hepatitis→Icterus)
 Liver
• Portal Areas
– In the angles where adjacent hepatic lobules
meet
– the interlobular arteries
– the interlobular veins
– the interlobular bile ducts
 Liver
Portal vein →Interlobular veins → Hepatic sinusoids
Hepatic artery →Interlobular arteries
↓
Hepatic vein ← Sublobular veins ← Central veins

Hepatic ducts ←Interlobular bile ducts ←Bile

canaliculi