Exocrine and Salivary Gland Microanatomy

Question 1

list the mucosal glands observed in the GI tube (5)

Answer 1

1. cardiac stomach region: simple coiled tubular
2. proper gastric region of stomach: simple straight tubular glands
3. pyloric stomach region: simple coiled tubular
4. small intestine glands: simple tubular
5. large intestine glands: simple very straight tubular glands

Question 2

list the submucosal glands observed in the GI tube (3)

Answer 2

1. salivary glands: compound tubular acinar
2. esophageal glands: compound tubular acinar
3. small intestinal submucosal glands: simple!! plug into the bottom of the crypts of lieberkuhn, some even push up into base of villi so don’t need to be compound

Question 3

list and describe the 4 basic modes of secretion utilized by exocrine glands

Answer 3

1. merocrine: secretory product discharged without any loss of cytoplasm, sweat glands
2. apocrine: small portions of cytoplasm lost, sweat glands
3. holocrine: entire cell and its contents are discharged; sebaceous glands
4. cytocrine: secretory product is transferred from one cell to another cell

Question 4

list the basic duct organization within a compound exocrine gland, starting with the narrowest duct and ending with the widest duct in diameter (5)

Answer 4

1. intercalated duct
2. intralobular duct (striated in salivary glands)
3. interlobular duct
4. lobar duct
5. main duct

Question 5

describe what is meant by simple versus compound glands

Answer 5

simple: only one or no ducts
compound: branching ducts

Question 6

describe the basic difference between adenomeres that are acinar and adenomeres that are alveolar

Answer 6

acinar: little grape
alveolar: giant balloon

Question 7

list the 3 basic secretory types of salivary glands

Answer 7

1. mucus: thick and viscous secretion
2. serous: thin water secretion; zymogen granules
3. seromucous/mixed: both serous and mucus secreting cells; have demilunes!

Question 8

differentiate between the 3 types of salivary glands based on recognition of mucous and serous acinar cells

Answer 8

1. parotid: predominantly serous; zymogen granules
2. mandibular: seromucous
3. sublingual: seromucous

all glands are compound tubuloacinar

Question 9

differentiate between intralobular and interlobular ducts based on location and epithelium

Answer 9

intralobular: within the lobule; simple cuboidal to simple columnar

interlobular: located within CT trabeculae/septae between lobules, more CT than intralobular ducts; simple to stratified columnar epithelium