Merocrine
Secretory mechanism
| Exocrine secretion |
| Merocrine or eccrine, by exocytosis |
| Apocrine, by membrane budding (loss of cytoplasm) |
| Holocrine, by membrane rupture |
Merocrine (or eccrine) is a term used to classify exocrine glands and their secretions in the study of histology. A cell is classified as merocrine if the secretions of that cell are excreted via exocytosis from secretory cells into an epithelial-walled duct or ducts and then onto a bodily surface or into the lumen.
Merocrine is the most common manner of secretion. The gland releases its product and no part of the gland is lost or damaged (compare holocrine and apocrine).
The term eccrine is specifically used to designate merocrine secretions from sweat glands (eccrine sweat glands), although the term merocrine is often used interchangeably.
01Examples
- Salivary glands , Exocrine glands that produce saliva through a system of ductsPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
- Pancreatic glands , Organ of the digestive system and endocrine system of vertebratesPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
- Paneth cells of the intestine
- Certain sweat glands
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Merocrine”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Histology of paneth cells, annotated.jpg by Mikael Häggström, M.D. Author info - Reusing images - Conflicts of interest: None Mikael Häggström, M.D. Consent note: Consent from the patient or patient's relatives is regarded as redundant, because of absence of identifiable features (List of HIPAA identifiers) in the media and case information (See also HIPAA case reports guidance)., CC0
- 405 Modes of Secretion by Glands Merocine.png by CFCF, CC BY-SA 4.0
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