Any of the large sweat glands that produce both a fluid and a secretion.

Apocrine glands are restricted in men to hairy regions of the body, and are lined by a single layer of tall columnar cells with acidophile cytoplasm (thriving in a relatively acid environment).

Any of numerous nodes (collections of tissue) situated in the areas of underarm veins that receive lymphatic drainage (almost colorless fluid that travels through vessels and carries cells that help fight infection and disease) from the upper limb, pectoral girdle (bones supporting the front or upper parts of the body), and mammary gland (two half-moon-shaped glands on either side of the adult female chest, which make up the breast): Jenny's primary physician, Dr. Smith, tried to explain how the axillary glands function and how this might explain why she was having an abnormal feeling in her armpits.

Any of the rather small sweat glands that produce an eccrine secretion which are restricted to the human skin.

Insect structures that originate from the ectoderm of the ventrocaudal part of the head and serve as a source of ecdysone (family of steroid hormones found in insects, crustaceans and plants).

The endocrine gland (any of the glands of the endocrine system that secrete hormones directly into the bloodstream).

A gland that secretes mucus; such as, the salivary gland.

1. A salivary gland situated at the base of each ear.
2. The largest of the three major salivary glands, it is located in front and below the ear and behind the jaw bone.

The other two glands are the submandibular located deep in the mandible, or jaw bone (submaxillary), and sublingual (underneath the tongue).

A small cone-shaped organ of the brain that secretes the hormone melatonin into the bloodstream. It is one of the endocrine glands and is situated beneath the back part of the corpus callosum (the thick band of nerve fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain in higher mammals and allows the hemispheres to communicate).

Designating a small gland in the brain that regulates many bodily functions.

Borrowed from New Latin pituitarius, from Latin pituitarius, "mucous"; relating to phlegm, from pituita, "phlegm, mucus".

The name for the gland in the brain was adopted from the Latin word for phlegm or mucus, because it was believed in the 1500's and 1600's that the pituitary gland channeled mucus to the nose.

The main endocrine gland

It is a small structure in the head called the master gland because it produces hormones that control other glands and many body functions including growth. The pituitary consists of the anterior and posterior pituitary.

The anterior pituitary is the front portion of the pituitary where hormones secreted by it influence growth, sexual development, skin pigmentation, thyroid function, and adrenocortical function.

These influences are exerted through the effects of pituitary hormones on other endocrine glands except for growth hormone which acts directly on cells.

The effects of under function of the anterior pituitary include growth retardation (dwarfism) in childhood and a decrease in all other endocrine gland functions normally under the control of the anterior pituitary; except the parathyroid glands.

The results of over function of the anterior pituitary include overgrowth (gigantism) in children and a condition called acromegaly in adults.

The posterior pituitary is the back portion of the pituitary which secretes the hormone oxytocin which increases uterine contractions and antidiuretic hormone (ADH) which increases re-absorption of water by the tubules of the kidney.

Underproduction of ADH results in a disorder called diabetes insipidus characterized by the inability to concentrate the urine and, consequently, excess urination leading potentially to dehydration. The urine is "insipid"; that is, overly dilute.

Any of several coiled, tubular, mucus-secreting glands situated in the mucus membrane near the pyloric end of the stomach.

A glandular body of obscure function (one of the so-called ductless glands) situated near the base of the neck in vertebrate animals; in people it usually disappears after the period of childhood.

This organ is important in the development of the immune response in the newborn. Its removal during early chilhood has been associated with an increased susceptibility to acute infectious diseases at a later time.

The thymus is essential to the maturation of the thymic lymphoid cells, called T cells. When the T cells enter the circulation, they are the small-sized and medium-sized lymphocytes which may survive for up to five years. These cells are important in the body's cellular immune response.