Exocrine glands

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Exocrine glands are glands that secrete their products (excluding hormones and other chemical messengers) into ducts (duct glands) which lead directly into the external environment. They are the counterparts to endocrine glands, which secrete their products (hormones) directly into the bloodstream (ductless glands) or release hormones (paracrines) that affect only target cells nearby the release site.

To the degree to which the activity of these cells is regulated by the nervous system may reflect the role psychological factors could have in the operation of these glands. Effects that might underpin the psychosomatic links with disorders of these systems.

Examples

Typical exocrine glands include sweat glands, salivary glands, mammary glands, stomach, liver, pancreas. (Example of an endocrine gland is the adrenal gland, which is found on top of the kidneys and secretes the hormone adrenaline, among others).

Types

There are many ways of classifying exocrine glands:

Structure

Exocrine glands contain a glandular portion and a duct portion, the structures of which can be used to classify the gland.

• The duct portion may be branched (called compound) or unbranched (called simple).
• The glandular portion may be tubular, acinar, or may be a mix of the two (called tubuloacinar). If the glandular portion branches, then the gland is called a branched gland.

Method of secretion

Exocrine glands are named apocrine gland, holocrine gland, or merocrine gland based on how their product is secreted.

• Apocrine glands - a portion of the plasma membrane buds off the cell, containing the secretion.
• Holocrine glands - the entire cell disintegrates to secrete its substance.
• Merocrine glands - cells secrete their substances by exocytosis.

Product secreted

• Serous cells secrete proteins, often enzymes. Examples include chief cells and Paneth cells
• Mucous cells secrete mucus. Examples include Brunner's glands, esophageal glands, and pyloric glands
• Mixed glands secrete both protein and mucus. Examples include the salivary glands, although parotid gland is predominantly serous, the sublingual gland is predominantly mucous and the submandibular gland is both serous and mucous.

List of exocrine glands

Glands typically may be referred to by two or more means, though some terms are rarely seen. The names of the anatomists who first described them are often employed, as:

Name(s)	Location	Product	Structure
Apocrine sweat glands	skin		coiled tubular
Bartholin's glands, Tiedmann's glands, vulvovaginal glands	vulva, vagina
Bauhin's glands, anterior lingual glands	tongue, near tip	nonserous or mixed
Brunner's glands, duodenal glands	duodenum	mucous	compound tubular
Bulbourethral glands, Cowper's glands, Mery's glands	penis, base
Ciaccio's glands, accessory lacrimal glands	eye
Cobelli's glands	esophagus, just above the cardia, in the mucosa	mucous
Duverney's gland	vagina, on either side
Ebner's glands	tongue	serous
Eccrine sweat glands	skin		coiled tubular
Esophageal glands	esophagus	mucous	racemose
Exocrine pancreas	pancreas	serous	tubulo-acinar
Fränkel's glands	vocal cords, below the edge
Gastric chief cell, Wasmann's glands	stomach	serous
Glomus coccygeum, coccygeal gland, Luschka's gland or ganglion	coccyx, near the tip
Goblet cells	digestive tract, respiratory tract	mucous	simple unicellular
Henle's glands	eyelids, in the conjuctiva		tubular
Huguier's glands	vagina
Krause's glands	conjunctiva, middle portion	mucous
Lieberkuhn's glands	intestines, surface of mucous membrane		simple tubular
Littré's glands, Morgagni's glands	spongy portion of the urethra		racemose
Mammary gland	breast		compound tubulo-acinar
Meibomian gland	eyelids	sebaceous
Moll's glands	eyelids
Montgomery's glands	mammary areola	sebaceous
Naboth's glands	cervix and os uteri	mucous
Olfactory glands, Bowman's glands	nose, olfactory region
Paneth cells	small intestine	serous
Gley's glands, Sandstroem's glands
parotid gland	mouth	serous	tubulo-alveolar
Peyer's patches (or glands)	ileum, lymphatic glands
Prostate	surrounds the urethra just below the urinary bladder
Pyloric glands	stomach	mucous	simple branched tubular
Sebaceous gland	skin	sebum	acinar - branched
Skene's glands, Guérin's glands	vagina
Sublingual gland, Rivini's gland	mouth	mucus (primarily)	tubulo-alveolar
Submandibular gland	mouth	mixed (M+S)	tubulo-alveolar
Sudoriparous glands, Boerhaave's glands	skin
Sigmund's glands	epitrochlear lymph nodes
Suzanne's gland	mouth, beneath the alveolingual groove	mucous
Weber's glands	tongue	mucous	tubular
Glands of Zeis	eyelids, free edges	sebaceous

See also

• Pheromones
• Wikipedia:MeSH A10#MeSH A10.336 --- exocrine glands

Additional images

Gray1033.png

Section of the human esophagus. Moderately magnified.

Gray1172.png

Dissection of a lactating breast.

External links

• Diagram at mhhe.com
• Dictionary at eMedicine gland