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A mammary gland is an exocrine gland in humans and other mammals that produces milk to feed young offspring.Mammals get their name from the Latin word mamma, "breast".The mammary glands are arranged in organs such as the breasts in primates (for example, humans and chimpanzees), the udder in ruminants (for example, cows, goats, sheep, and deer), and the dugs of other animals (for example, dogs ...
Lactiferous ducts are ducts that converge and form a branched system connecting the nipple to the lobules of the mammary gland.When lactogenesis occurs, under the influence of hormones, the milk is moved to the nipple by the action of smooth muscle contractions along the ductal system to the tip of the nipple.
A mammary alveolus (pl.: alveoli, from Latin alveolus, "little cavity") is a small cavity or sac found in the mammary gland. [1] [2] Mammary alveoli are the site of milk production and storage in the mammary gland. [1] [2] Mammary alveoli cluster into groups called mammary lobules, and each breast may contain 15 to 20 of these lobules.
The mammary ridge is primordial for the mammary glands on the chest in humans, and is associated with mammary gland and breast development.. In human embryogenesis, the mammary ridge usually appears as a narrow, microscopic ectodermal thickening during the first seven weeks of pregnancy and grows caudally as a narrow, linear ridge. [1]
The breast is an apocrine gland that produces the milk used to feed an infant. The nipple of the breast is surrounded by the areola (nipple-areola complex). The areola has many sebaceous glands, and the skin color varies from pink to dark brown.
An example of true apocrine glands is the mammary glands, responsible for secreting breast milk. [2] Apocrine glands are also found in the anogenital region and axillae. [3] Apocrine secretion is less damaging to the gland than holocrine secretion (which destroys a cell) but more damaging than merocrine secretion .
Although biochemical markers indicate that Secretory Activation begins about 30–40 hours after birth, mothers do not typically begin feeling increased breast fullness (the sensation of milk "coming in the breast") until 50–73 hours (2–3 days) after birth. Colostrum is the first milk a breastfed baby receives.
These rudimentary tubules will eventually become the matured lactiferous (milk) ducts, which connect the lobules (milk "containers") of the breast, grape-like clusters of alveoli, to the nipples. [22] Until puberty, the tubule networks of the breast buds remain rudimentary and quiescent, [1] and the male and female breast do not show any ...