Liver vs Pancreas
In the human anatomy, there are certain organs that secrete certain substances, which are essential for some biological processes. Liver and pancreas are two such organs that secrete digestive enzymes, which are essential for the complete digestion of the chyme.
Liver is considered as the heaviest gland, weighing around 1.4 kg in an adult human. In addition, liver is the second largest organ in the body. It is associated with small intestine and located in the upper right abdomen, below the diaphragm.
Pancreas is a long pale white organ, which serves both as an endocrine and exocrine gland. When considering the anatomy and physiology of pancreas, it consists of several parts including head, neck, body, and tail. The head lies in the C-shaped space of the duodenum while the neck is found behind the pylorus. The body of it lies behind the stomach while the tail is in contact with the spleen. It is mainly (about 99%) composed of small clusters of glandular epithelial cells called acini, which secrete pancreatic juice. The remaining (1%) clusters called, pancreatic islets do the endocrine function of pancreas. Pancreatic islets secrete the hormones including glucogon, insulin, somatostatic, and pancreatic polypeptide.
