Library · Anatomy
Mammary lobule
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The mammary gland is organized like a tree that keeps dividing. First into lobes, 15 to 20 of them in the adult female breast, and then into lobules, 20 to 40 of them.
And there, at the end of the road, is what matters. Each lobule ends in bulb-shaped glands, and each one of them is a terminal duct lobular unit. It is a tiny cluster of grapes hanging from the end of its stem, and it is exactly where milk is made. These glands do not make milk on their own: they respond to prolactin, the hormone that gives the signal.
If you looked at it under a microscope, you would see that the epithelium has two layers, not one. On the inside, lining the lactiferous ducts, are the luminal cuboidal cells. On the outside are the myoepithelial cells, whose name has the root for muscle hidden inside it.
In brief
The lactiferous ducts branch into lobes and lobules: the adult female mammary gland has 15 to 20 lobes and 20 to 40 lobules.
Each lobule ends in bulb-shaped glands, the terminal duct lobular units, where milk is produced in response to prolactin.
A tiny cluster of grapes hanging from the end of its stem.
The epithelial bilayer has luminal cuboidal cells on the inside, lining the lactiferous ducts, and myoepithelial cells on the outside.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingHistology, Mammary Glands, StatPearlsPublished
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