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Home / Animal tissues / Epithelium / Glandular / Exocrine gland

Animal tissues.
Glandular epithelium.


EXOCRINE GLAND

Exocrine gland
Pseudostratified epithelium
Connective tissue
Smooth muscle
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Exocrine gland
Organ: lung, respiratory ducts, exocrine gland
Species: pig (Sus scrofa domesticus; mammal)
Technique: PAS-haematoxylin, 8 µm thick section, paraffin embedding.

This image is from respiratory ducts.
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Exocrine glands show an excretory duct, which connects the secretory units (structures in red in the image above) with the free surface of the epithelium. The morphology and arrangement of both secretory and excretory parts result in a wide variety of exocrine glands. Compound exocrine glands show branched excretory ducts and simple exocrine glands are not branched and have one secretory unit. Regarding the secretory units, exocrine glands are known as tubular (tubuloacinar), acinar, or alveolar, depending on the organization and morphology of the secretory cells (see table).

More images

Sublingual salivary gland
Sublingual salivary gland showing serous and mucous secretory units.
Sublingual salivary gland
Sublingual salivary gland. Black arrows point to secretory units and red arrows to excretory ducts.
Sweat gland
Secretory part of sweat glands (rat). Porciones secretoras de glándulas sudoríparas de la piel de rata.
Submaxilar salivary gland
Submaxilar salivary gland. The serous part is on the left and the mucous part is on the right.
Sebaceous gland
Sebaceous gland (arrow) releasing into a hair follicle. It is an acinar holocrine gland.
Stomach
Exocrine gland of the stomach.
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