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Myoepithelial cell
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The ducts of the breast and the alveoli, the small sacs at the end of those ducts, are not lined by a single layer of cells but by two. The outer one is made of myoepithelial cells, elongated cells with the properties of smooth muscle, the muscle that works without your telling it to.
Their job is to squeeze. When the baby suckles, oxytocin is released, a hormone that stimulates those myoepithelial cells in the alveoli and the ducts to contract, and that contraction ejects the milk.
Think of a hand wrapping around a cluster and squeezing it empty.
They do not live only in the breast. Apocrine glands in the skin also have myoepithelial cells associated with their secretory portion.
In brief
The myoepithelial cell is elongated, has smooth muscle properties, and forms the outer layer of the epithelial bilayer of the mammary gland.
Oxytocin released with suckling stimulates it to contract in the alveoli and ducts, and that contraction ejects the milk.
A hand wrapping around the cluster and squeezing it empty.
It is not unique to the breast: apocrine glands in the skin also have myoepithelial cells associated with their secretory portion.
Sources (3)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingHistology, Mammary Glands, StatPearlsPublished
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingAnatomy, Skin, Sudoriferous Gland, StatPearlsPublished
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingHistology, Apocrine Gland, StatPearlsPublished
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