About Lesson
Islets of Langerhans:
- In some fishes like Labeo, Cirrhinus, and Channa small islets are present which are separate from the pancreas and are found near the gall bladder, spleen, pyloric caeca, or intestine.
- Such islets are often referred to as principal islets.
- In fis,h the islets are big and prominent and consist of three kinds of cells.
(i) The beta cells which secrete insulin and take aldehyde fuschin stain,
(ii) Another type of cells are alpha cells, which do not take aldehyde fuschin stain and have two types, A1 and A2 cells, which produce glucagon. The function of the third type of cells is not known. Insulin is secreted by beta cells and regulates the blood sugar level in fish.