[Metabolic unit in the microcirculatory system of the exocrine part of the pancreas]

Metabolism between exocrine pancreocytes and blood is mediated with the participation of the metabolic section of the microcirculatory system. It includes: blood capillaries, pericapillary space, intracellular gaps and metabolite distributional complex (basal-lateral folds of pancreocytic plasmolemma). As demonstrated morphological and histochemical changes developed in exocrine pancreocytes and in the metabolic section of the pancreatic gland at different stages of the secretory cycle, interconnections between them are complex and dynamical. All the elements of the metabolic section undergo a certain reconstruction adequate to functional state of pancreocytes. Metabolism between glandular cells and the vascular bed is regulated by structural reconstruction of pancreocytic plasmolemma. A certain functional specialization in plasmolemmic folds is noted: basal-lateral folds regulate transport between pericapillary space and intracellular gaps, while the main function of the lateral folds is to transport substances by means of pinocytosis.