The glands which secrete digestive juices and digestion and helps in the digestive process are called the digestive glands. The major digestive glands are Gastric glands, Liver, Pancreas and Intestinal glands. Toads have two main digestive glands, Liver and Pancreas.
Gastric glands are tiny glands found on the wall of the stomach. Gastric glands secrete gastric juice which contains HCl and protein-digesting enzymes.
Fig: Digestive glands of toad
Liver: Liver is the largest gland of the body, located on either sides of the heart. This gland is divided into two parts, right and left, which are connected together by a middle part. Liver is a large chocolate or dark brown colour gland. The gall bladder remains in the middle of the two parts. The bile secreted from the liver is stored in this bladder. The functions of the liver are
- Liver stores glycogen, fat and vitamins. That is why it is called the store house of the body.
- It assists in protein synthesis.
- In the liver the nitrogenous excretory paroducts are transformed into urea.
- Red blood corpuscles originates in liver.
Pancreas: Pancreas is a very important digestive gland of the vertebrate animals. This gland is situated in between the stomach and duodenum. It looks like a leaf and is light yellow in colour. The bile duct and the pancreatic duct join together to form hepatopencreatic duct and open into the duodenum.
