 We're going to talk about the pancreas but we're primarily going to talk about the exocrine pancreas. So we already would have talked about the endocrine pancreas a few chapters ago and that's going to be that 1% of the pancreas, the pancreatic islets or islets of longerhans that produce insulin and glucagon. So let's forget about those for now and we're going to focus on the other 99% of the pancreas which is the exocrine pancreas. And remember extraconglans, they're going to dump the secretions on two surfaces. In this case it's going to be the lining of the small intestine and extraconglans also have ducts. So you're going to see the word ducts thrown around here quite a bit. All right. So the cells, the clusters of cells that make up the extra portion of the pancreas are called the pancreatic asinine. You see these asinine cells here, only a couple of them are there so they take them to which base of the picture but you can see those. These are going to be the cells that make which the pancreas' primary job is to make and secrete digestive enzymes and sodium bicarbonate. The bicarbonate's job is to neutralize the acid so once it's squirted into your small intestine the bicarbonate's job is to neutralize the acids coming from that kind that's coming from your stomach and the digestive enzymes are going to be the key enzymes that do most digestion of the foods that you eat. So all right. So you see here the pancreatic duct is going to be capturing all these enzymes and bicarbonate that are being produced by these asinine cells and it's going to travel down the pancreas where it fuses with the bile duct. So the bile duct is going to be where the bile from the liver and gallbladder come from, it's going to fuse with your major or main pancreatic duct and they're going to enter the small intestine when they're asked to be secreted at what's called the hepato-pancreatic ampula. There's a sphincter there that would keep this tube closed, this duct closed unless it needs to pop open. That's going to be hormones that are going to control that. We can talk about that a bit in a moment. So your pancreas makes about a liter of this pancreatic juice every day which has the digestive enzymes that I'll go over right now but then also bicarbonate which I already covered. So your pancreas makes pancreatic amylase to break down carbohydrates, pancreatic lipase to break down lipids. Those are going to be produced in their active form because they wouldn't eat the pancreas. But your pancreas also makes protein digesting enzymes called trypsin and chymotrypsin. These have to be produced in an inactive form and they're activated when they get to the destination or else they would chew up the pancreas. This seems to be a part of the mechanism of pancreatitis. The pancreas is being inflamed and digested by these digestive enzymes. All right, what else about that? So as far as the control of it, remember the pancreas is always going to be making these things. The presence of food entering the small intestine from the stomach is going to be primarily what causes these things to be released. The type of food will have an impact. The food that has more lipids and more proteins in it is going to lead to even more pancreatic juice being secreted. So really the type and amount of food will have an impact. But primarily, a big picture, the presence of food showing up in the small intestines or as it's on its way there is going to lead to the pancreatic juice being secreted. Your parasympathetic nervous system would play a role, but that's not a huge deal. OK, so that is the exocrine pancreas and its function, making digestive enzymes and making this buffer, sodium bicarbonate. I hope this helps. Have a wonderful day. Be blessed.