Pancreas histology (12.5X)

The pancreas. Image copyright: University of Oslo, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. (Tissue stain: H+E).

This is the pancreas. It is a mixed exocrine and endocrine gland. The pancreas contains tissue with an endocrine and exocrine role, and this division is also visible when the pancreas is viewed under a microscope.

The pancreas has islands of endocrine tissue, so-called islets of Langerhans (pancreatic islets). These appear as lighter spots in the darker purple exocrine glandular tissue.

Published May 27th 2014, updated October 9th 2021.