Ontogeny of human pancreatic exocrine function.

At birth pancreatic exocrine function is far from mature and, like many other organ systems of the newborn, undergoes rapid development during early life. Knowledge of the functional capacity of the human pancreas during the perinatal period has important implications for the feeding of neonates, especially those born preterm or who are retarded in growth, and for making recom- mendations about the timing of introduction and the composition of weaning foods. Much of our knowledge has been derived from animals, but there are dangers in applying information gained therefrom to humans. In this review we summarise what is known about the ontogeny of the human pancreas, and refer to animal experiments only when no information is available about humans.

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