Where is pancreatic research going

: Research on the exocrine pancreas is showing signs of an accelerating rate of advance. After a period of relative inactivity, there is a prospect for major advances in both basic science and clinical areas. Isolated acinar cells and lobules can now be studied in vitro, and electrophysiologic techniques can be applied to individual cells. Hormones acting on the exocrine pancreas have been isolated and purified, and radioimmunoassays are available. "Candidate hormones" are under investigation. Controlled clinical trials of therapeutic agents are being carried out in pancreatic diseases, and a number of new diagnostic techniques are being evaluated. It remains for investigators to propose important new hypotheses that can be tested by these new techniques.