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org/wiki/Pineal_gland

Pineal gland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pineal gland

Diagram of pituitary and pineal glands in the human brain

glandula pinealis
subject #276 1277 (http://education.yahoo.com/reference/gray/subjects/subject?id=276#p1277)
superior cerebellar artery
r Neural Ectoderm, Roof of Diencephalon
Pineal+gland (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/cgi/mesh/2007/MB_cgi?mode=&term=Pineal+gland)

The pineal gland (also called the pineal body, epiphysis cerebri, epiphysis
or the "third eye") is a small endocrine gland in the vertebrate brain. It
produces the serotonin derivative melatonin, a hormone that affects the
[1][2]
modulation of wake/sleep patterns and seasonal functions. Its shape
resembles a tiny pine cone (hence its name), and it is located near the center of
the brain, between the two hemispheres, tucked in a groove where the two
rounded thalamic bodies join.

Contents
1 Location
2 Structure and composition
3 Miscellaneous anatomy
4 Function
5 Metaphysics and philosophy
6 Additional images
7 References
8 External links

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Location
The pineal gland is reddish-gray and about the size of a grain of rice (5–8 mm) in
humans, located just rostro-dorsal to the superior colliculus and behind and
beneath the stria medullaris, between the laterally positioned thalamic bodies. It
is part of the epithalamus.

The pineal gland is a midline structure, and is often seen in plain skull X-rays, as
it is often calcified.

Structure and composition

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Pineal gland parenchyma

with calcifications.

Micrograph of a
normal pineal
gland – very high
magnification.

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The pineal body consists in humans of a lobular

parenchyma of pinealocytes surrounded by connective
tissue spaces. The gland's surface is covered by a pial
capsule.

The pineal gland consists mainly of pinealocytes, but four

other cell types have been identified. As it is quite cellular
(in relation to the cortex and white matter, it may be
[3]
mistaken for a neoplasm.

Cell type Description

The pinealocytes consist of a cell body Micrograph of a
with 4–6 processes emerging. They normal pineal
Pinealocytes produce and secrete melatonin. The gland –
pinealocytes can be stained by special intermediate
silver impregnation methods. magnification.
Interstitial Interstitial cells are located between the
cells pinealocytes.
Many capillaries are present in the gland,
and perivascular phagocytes are located
Perivascular
close to these blood vessels. The
phagocyte
perivascular phagocytes are antigen
presenting cells.
In higher vertebrates neurons are located
pineal neurons in the pineal gland. However, these are
not present in rodents.
In some species, neuronal-like
peptidergic
peptidergic cells are present. These cells
neuron-like
might have a paracrine regulatory
cells
function.

The pineal gland receives a sympathetic innervation from the superior cervical
ganglion. However, a parasympathetic innervation from the sphenopalatine and
otic ganglia is also present. Further, some nerve fibers penetrate into the pineal
gland via the pineal stalk (central innervation). Finally, neurons in the
trigeminal ganglion innervate the gland with nerve fibers containing the
neuropeptide, PACAP. Human follicles contain a variable quantity of gritty
material, called corpora arenacea (or "acervuli," or "brain sand"). Chemical
analysis shows that they are composed of calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate,
[4]
magnesium phosphate, and ammonium phosphate. In 2002, deposits of the
[5]
calcite form of calcium carbonate were described. Calcium, phosphorus[6] and

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fluoride[7] deposits in the pineal gland have been linked with aging.

Miscellaneous anatomy
Pinealocytes in many non-mammalian vertebrates have a strong resemblance to
the photoreceptor cells of the eye. Some evolutionary biologists believe that the
vertebrate pineal cells share a common evolutionary ancestor with retinal
[8]
cells.

In some vertebrates, exposure to light can set off a chain reaction of enzymatic
[9]
events within the pineal gland that regulate circadian rhythms. Some early
vertebrate fossil skulls have a pineal foramen (opening). This correlates with the
physiology of the modern "living fossils," the lamprey and the tuatara, and some
other vertebrates that have a parietal organ or "third eye," which, in some of
them, is photosensitive. The third eye represents evolution's earlier approach to
[10]
photoreception. The structures of the third eye in the tuatara are homologous
to the cornea, lens and retina, though the latter resembles that of an octopus
rather than a vertebrate retina. The asymmetrical whole consists of the "eye" to
the left and the pineal sac to the right. "In animals that have lost the parietal
eye, including mammals, the pineal sac is retained and condensed into the form
[10]
of the pineal gland."

Unlike much of the rest of the mammalian brain, the pineal gland is not isolated
[11]
from the body by the blood-brain barrier system; indeed it has profuse blood
[7]
flow, second only to the kidney.

Fossils seldom preserve soft anatomy. The brain of the Russian Melovatka bird,
about 90 million years old, is an exception, and it shows a larger-than-expected
[12]
parietal eye and pineal gland.

In humans and other mammals, the light signals necessary to set circadian
rhythms are sent from the eye through the retinohypothalamic system to the
suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) and the pineal.

Function
The pineal gland was originally believed to be a "vestigial remnant" of a larger
organ. In 1917 it was known that extract of cow pineals lightened frog skin.
Dermatology professor Aaron B. Lerner and colleagues at Yale University,
hoping that a substance from the pineal might be useful in treating skin
[13]
diseases, isolated and named the hormone melatonin in 1958. The substance
did not prove to be helpful as intended, but its discovery helped solve several
mysteries such as why removing the rat's pineal accelerated ovary growth, why

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keeping rats in constant light decreased the weight of their pineals, and why
pinealectomy and constant light affect ovary growth to an equal extent; this
[14]
knowledge gave a boost to the then new field of chronobiology.

Melatonin is N-acetyl-5-methoxy-tryptamine, a derivative of the amino acid

tryptophan, which also has other functions in the central nervous system. The
production of melatonin by the pineal gland is stimulated by darkness and
[15]
inhibited by light. Photosensitive cells in the retina detect light and directly
signal the SCN, entraining its rhythm to the 24-hour cycle in nature. Fibers
project from the SCN to the paraventricular nuclei (PVN), which relay the
circadian signals to the spinal cord and out via the sympathetic system to
superior cervical ganglia (SCG), and from there into the pineal gland. The
function(s) of melatonin in humans is not clear; it is commonly prescribed for the
treatment of circadian rhythm sleep disorders.

The compound pinoline is also produced in the pineal gland; it is one of the
beta-carbolines.

The human pineal gland grows in size until about 1–2 years of age, remaining
[16][17]
stable thereafter, although its weight increases gradually from puberty
[18][19]
onwards. The abundant melatonin levels in children are believed to inhibit
sexual development, and pineal tumors have been linked with precocious
puberty. When puberty arrives, melatonin production is reduced. Calcification of
the pineal gland is typical in adults.

In animals, the pineal gland appears to play a major role in sexual development,
[20]
hibernation, metabolism, and seasonal breeding.

Pineal cytostructure seems to have evolutionary similarities to the retinal cells of

[8]
chordates. Modern birds and reptiles have been found to express the
phototransducing pigment melanopsin in the pineal gland. Avian pineal glands
[21]
are believed to act like the SCN in mammals.

Studies on rodents suggest that the pineal gland may influence the actions of
[22]
recreational drugs, such as cocaine, and antidepressants, such as fluoxetine
[23]
(Prozac), and its hormone melatonin can protect against
[24]
neurodegeneration.

Metaphysics and philosophy

The secretory activity of the pineal gland is only relatively understood.
Historically, its location deep in the brain suggested to philosophers that it
possessed particular importance. This combination led to its being a "mystery"
gland with myth, superstition and occult theories surrounding its perceived

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function.
[25]
René Descartes, who dedicated much time to the study of the pineal gland,
called it the "seat of the soul." [26] He believed that it was the point of connection
[27]
between the intellect and the body. The relevant quotation as to Descartes'
reason for believing this is,

My view is that this gland is the principal seat of the soul, and the
place in which all our thoughts are formed. The reason I believe this is
that I cannot find any part of the brain, except this, which is not
double. Since we see only one thing with two eyes, and hear only one
voice with two ears, and in short have never more than one thought at
a time, it must necessarily be the case that the impressions which enter
by the two eyes or by the two ears, and so on, unite with each other in
some part of the body before being considered by the soul. Now it is
impossible to find any such place in the whole head except this gland;
moreover it is situated in the most suitable possible place for this
purpose, in the middle of all the concavities; and it is supported and
surrounded by the little branches of the carotid arteries which bring
[25]
the spirits into the brain. (29 January 1640, AT III:19–20, CSMK
143)

Baruch de Spinoza later refuted:

For he [Descartes] maintained, that the soul or mind is specially united

to a particular part of the brain, namely, to that part called the pineal
gland, by the aid of which the mind is enabled to feel all the
movements which are set going in the body, and also external objects,
and which the mind by a simple act of volition can put in motion in
various ways ... Such is the doctrine of this illustrious philosopher (in
so far as I gather it from his own words); it is one which, had it been
less ingenious, I could hardly believe to have proceeded from so great
a man. Indeed, I am lost in wonder, that a philosopher, who had stoutly
asserted, that he would draw no conclusions which do not follow from
self-evident premisses, and would affirm nothing which he did not
clearly and distinctly perceive, and who had so often taken to task the
scholastics for wishing to explain obscurities through occult qualities,
could maintain a hypothesis, beside which occult qualities are
commonplace. What does he understand, I ask, by the union of the
[28]
mind and the body? (Baruch de Spinoza, Ethics; part 5)

The notion of a "pineal-eye" is central to the philosophy of the French writer

Georges Bataille, which is analyzed at length by literary scholar Denis Hollier in
[29]
his study Against Architecture. In this work Hollier discusses how Bataille
uses the concept of a "pineal-eye" as a reference to a blind-spot in Western

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rationality, and an organ of excess and delirium.[30] This conceptual device is

[31]
explicit in his surrealist texts, The Jesuve and The Pineal Eye.

Additional images
The pineal body is labeled in these images.

Mesal aspect of a Dissection Hind- and

brain sectioned in showing the mid-brains; Median sagittal
the median ventricles of the postero-lateral section of brain.
sagittal plane. brain. view.

References
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Encyclopedia of Philosophy) /wiki/Ethics_%28Spinoza%29/Part_5

26. ^ Descartes R. Treatise of Man. New
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30. ^ Ibid, p.129
31. ^ Bataille, G, Visions of Excess:
Selected Writings, 1927–1939
(Theory and History of Literature,
Vol 14), trans. Allan Stoekl et al.,
Manchester University Press, 1985

External links
BrainMaps at UCDavis pineal%20gland (http://brainmaps.org
/index.php?q=pineal%20gland)

NeuroNames hier-280 (http://braininfo.rprc.washington.edu/Scripts

/hiercentraldirectory.aspx?ID=280)
Histology at BU: Endocrine System: pineal gland (illustration)
(http://www.bu.edu/histology/p/14401loa.htm)
Anatomy Atlases, Microscopic atlas: Pineal gland
(http://www.anatomyatlases.org/MicroscopicAnatomy/Section15
/Plate15296.shtml)
MedPix: Images of Pineal region (http://rad.usuhs.edu/medpix
/medpix.html?mode=image_finder&action=search&srchstr=pineal&
srch_type=all#top)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineal_gland"
Categories: Glands | Endocrine system | Head and neck | Sleep physiology |
Circadian rhythms

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