mammary gland

(noun)

A gland that secretes milk for suckling an infant or offspring.

Related Terms

Examples of mammary gland in the following topics:

  • Mammary Glands

    • A mammary gland is an organ in female mammals that produces milk to feed young offspring.
    • All the milk-secreting tissue leading to a single lactiferous duct is called a simple mammary gland; a complex mammary gland is all the simple mammary glands serving one nipple.
    • Humans normally have two complex mammary glands, one in each breast, and each complex mammary gland consists of 10–20 simple glands.
    • Mammary glands develop during different growth cycles.
    • Cross-section of the mammary-gland. 1.

  • Physiology of Lactation

    • Lactation is the secretion of milk from specialized glands (mammary glands) to provide nourishment to offspring.
    • Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young.

  • Characteristics of Mammals

    • Sebaceous glands are located over most of the body.
    • Apocrine glands, or scent glands, secrete substances that are used for chemical communication, such as in skunks.
    • Mammary glands produce milk that is used to feed newborns.
    • While male monotremes and eutherians possess mammary glands, male marsupials do not.
    • Mammary glands are probably modified sebaceous or eccrine glands, but their evolutionary origin is not entirely clear.

  • Development of the Integumentary System

    • The integument also includes appendages, primarily the sweat and sebaceous glands, hair, nails and arrectores pillorum (tiny muscles at the root of each hair that cause goose bumps).
    • Other regions of the ectoderm form into epithelial columns called cords which will become hair follocles and sebaceous and sweat glands.
    • At 20 weeks gestation, hair begins to grow from sebaceous glands, while sweat glands are formed from coiled cords.
    • Other cords begin to form mammary glands.

  • Glandular Epithelia

    • There are two major classifications of glands: endocrine glands and exocrine glands.
    • Examples of exocrine glands include the sweat glands, salivary glands, mammary glands, the pancreas, and the liver.
    • An endocrine gland is its counterpart.
    • Examples of endocrine glands include the adrenal glands, located atop the kidneys and responsible for the secretion of certain hormones such as adrenaline, cortisol, and others.
    • The sebaceous glands are microscopic glands in the skin that secrete an oily/waxy matter, called sebum, to lubricate and waterproof the skin and hair of mammals.

  • Labor and Birth

    • The mother's mammary glands go through changes during the third trimester to prepare for lactation and breastfeeding.
    • When the baby begins suckling at the breast, signals are sent to the hypothalamus causing the release of prolactin from the anterior pituitary, which signals the mammary glands to produce milk.

  • Breast Augmentation and Reduction

  • Hormonal Regulation of the Reproductive System

    • Regulation of the reproductive system is a process that requires the action of hormones from the pituitary gland, the adrenal cortex, and the gonads.
    • In addition to producing FSH and LH, the anterior portion of the pituitary gland also produces the hormone prolactin (PRL) in females.
    • Prolactin stimulates the production of milk by the mammary glands, following childbirth.
    • Oxytocin also stimulates the contraction of myoepithelial cells around the milk-producing mammary glands.
    • GnRH, secreted by the hypothalamus, stimulates the production of FSH and LH from the pituitary gland.

  • The Anterior Pituitary

    • Its regulatory functions are achieved through the secretion of various peptide hormones that act on target organs including the adrenal gland, liver, bone, thyroid gland, and gonads.
    • Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), is a polypeptide whose target is the adrenal gland.
    • Thyroid-stimulating hormone is a glycoprotein hormone that affects the thyroid gland and the secretion of thyroid hormones.
    • Prolactin is a polypeptide hormone whose target is the ovaries and mammary glands.
    • Hormone secretion from the anterior pituitary gland is regulated by hormones secreted by the hypothalamus.

  • Ovaries

    • Ovaries in females are analogous to testes in males in that both are gonads and endocrine glands.
    • When oocyte maturation is completed, a luteinizing hormone (LH) surge secreted by the pituitary gland stimulates follicle rupture and oocyte release.
    • Progesterone prepares the uterus for pregnancy and the mammary glands for lactation.