Best known as the insulin-producing tiss ue, the
islets of Langerhans do more than that. They are groups of specialized cells in
the pancreas that make and secrete hormones. Named after the German pathologist
Paul Langerhans (1847-1888), who discovered them in 1869, these cells sit in groups
that Langerhans likened to little islands in the pancreas. There are five types
of cells in an islet: alpha cells that make glucagon, which raises the level of
glucose (sugar) in the blood; beta cells that make insulin; delta cells that make
somatostatin which inhibits the release of numerous other hormones in the body;
and PP cells and D1 cells, about which little is known. Degeneration of the insulin-producing
beta cells is the main cause of type I (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus.
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