AbstractsMedical & Health Science

The currently accepted ideas on the formation of the pancreas revolve around the belief the organ developes from two separate primordial which arise from distinctly different points along the longitudinally disposed wall of the foregut. Accordingly it has been contended that certain portions of the duct system in the adult gland are associated with one or the other primordium developmentally. Many variations in the patterns displayed by the intraparenchymal duct system have been described but little attention has been given as to how such a wide range of variation might be explained from a developmental point of view. By studying the spatial arrangements of the ducts in a representative number of specimens, enabled by careful preparation of precise stereoradiographic pancreatograms in each instance, the reflections these arrangements and their variants could be considered to throw upon the formation of the gland during its development are critically examined.