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Breast ductal cell
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In the breast, milk travels through tubes called lactiferous ducts. These tubes are built from two layers of cells, one on top of the other. The breast ductal cell is the inner one, a cube-shaped cell of the luminal layer, and it lines the open space the milk passes through.
The ducts radiate from the nipple in every direction like the spokes of a wheel and widen into sinuses just under the areola. As they branch they form lobes and lobules, and each lobule ends in a terminal duct lobular unit, the spot where milk is made in response to a hormone called prolactin. The outer layer of the tube is different: it is made of myoepithelial cells, which are elongated, have muscle-like properties, and contract to squeeze the milk out during breastfeeding.
In brief
The breast ductal cell is a cuboidal luminal cell: it forms the inner layer of the mammary gland's epithelial bilayer and lines the lactiferous ducts.
These ducts open at the nipple, widen beneath the areola, and branch into lobes and lobules; each lobule ends in a terminal duct lobular unit, where milk is made in response to prolactin.
The outer layer is made of elongated myoepithelial cells with smooth muscle properties, which take part in milk ejection during breastfeeding.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology InformationHistology, Mammary Glands. StatPearls
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