Definition of Secretin

Secretin: A hormone made by glands in the small intestine that acts to stimulate pancreatic secretions. Commercially available secretin is either porcine (pigs) secretin or a synthesized form of human secretin. Secretin is of special historic interest because the word "hormone" was coined in 1902 by the English physiologists Wm. M. Bayliss and Ernest H. Starling in connection with their discovery of secretin, the first hormone ever found.

Secretin has been used as a treatment for autism, with no convincing scientific evidence for its effectiveness.