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14-September-2008 18:02:48 - Pineal gland Pineal gland Endocrine system Diagram of pituitary and pineal glands. Latin glandula pinealis Gray's subject #276 1277 Artery superior cerebellar artery MeSH Pineal+gland Dorlands/Elsevier g_06/12392585 The pineal gland also called the pineal body, epiphysis cerebri, or epiphysis is a small endocrine gland in the vertebrate brain. It produces melatonin, a hormone that affects the modulation of wake/sleep patterns and photoperiodic seasonal functions.12 It is shaped like a tiny pine cone, and 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 Cultures, philosophies and mythologies 6 Additional images 7 References 8 External links Location The pineal gland is a reddish-gray body about the size of a pea 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 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. Cell type Description pinealocytes The pinealocytes consist of a cell body with 4-6 processes emerging. They produce and secrete melatonin. The pinealocytes can be stained by special silver impregnation methods. interstitial cells Interstitial cells are located between the pinealocytes. perivascular phagocyte Many capillaries are present in the gland, and perivascular phagocytes are located close to these blood vessels. The perivascular phagocytes are antigen presenting cells. pineal neurons In higher vertebrates neurons are located in the pineal gland. However, these are not present in rodents. peptidergic neuron-like cells In some species, neuronal-like peptidergic cells are present. These cells might have a paracrine regulatory 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 innervates 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, magnesium phosphate, and ammonium phosphate.3 Recently, calcite deposits have been described as well.4 Calcium and phospherous deposits in the pineal gland have been linked with aging.5 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 cells.6 In some vertebrates, exposure of the pineal to light can directly set off a chain reaction of enzymatic events which regulate circadian rhythms.7 In humans and other mammals, this function is served by the retinohypothalamic system that sets the rhythm within the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Cultural and social interactions produce exposures to artificial light that influence the setting of the suprachiasmatic clock. Some early vertebrate fossil skulls have a pineal foramen. This corroborates with the physiology of the modern lamprey, tuatara, and some other vertebrates. Function The pineal gland was originally believed to be a vestigial remnant of a larger organ much as the appendix was thought to be a vestigial digestive organ. Aaron Lerner and colleagues at Yale University discovered that melatonin, the most potent compound then known to lighten frog skin, was present in the highest concentrations in the pineal.8 Melatonin is 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 inhibited by light.9 Photosensitive cells in the retina detect light and directly signal the suprachiasmatic nucleus SCN, entraining it to the 24 hour clock. 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 functions of melatonin in humans is not clear; it is commonly prescribed for the treatment of circadian rhythm sleep disorders. The pineal gland is large in children, but shrinks at puberty. It appears to play a major role in sexual development, hibernation in animals, metabolism, and seasonal breeding. The abundant melatonin levels in children is 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. Pineal cytostructure seems to have evolutionary similarities to the retinal cells of chordates.10 Modern birds and reptiles have been found to express the phototransducing pigment melanopsin in the pineal gland. Avian pineal glands are believed to act like the suprachiasmatic nucleus in mammals.11 Studies suggest that in rodents the pineal gland may influence the actions of recreational drugs, such as cocaine,12 and antidepressants, such as fluoxetine Prozac,13 and its hormone melatonin can protect against neurodegeneration.14 Cultures, philosophies and mythologies The secretory activity of the pineal gland has only relatively recently become 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 metaphysical theories surrounding its perceived function. René Descartes, who dedicated much time to the study of the pineal gland,15 called it the seat of the soul.16 He believed that it was the point of connection between the intellect and the body.17 This was in part because of his belief that it is unique in the anatomy of the human brain in being a structure not duplicated on the right and left sides. This observation is not true, however; under a microscope one finds the pineal gland is divided into two fine hemispheres. Another theory was that the pineal operated as a valve releasing fluids, thus the position taken during deep thought, with the head slightly down meeting the hand, was an allowance for the opening of these 'valves'. Writers such as Madame Blavatsky and Alice Bailey, considered early proponents of the new age movement, use the pineal-eye as a key element in their spiritual world-view...see Alice Bailey: A Treatise on White Magic, Madame Blavatsky: The Secret Doctrine The notion of a 'pineal-eye' is also crucial to the philosophy of the seminal French writer Georges Bataille, which is analyzed at length by literary scholar Denis Hollier in his study Against Architecture.18 But the head has a hole in it. The pineal eye, the organ of not-knowing, is the undoing of science. If science thought up man, the pineal eye unthinks him, spends him extravagantly, makes him lose the reserve in which, at the summit, from his head position, he was guarding himself.19 In this work Hollier discusses how Bataille uses the concept of a 'pineal-eye' as a reference to a blind-spot in Western rationality. When I carefully seek out, in deepest anguish, some strange absurdity, an eye opens at the top, in the middle of my skull. This eye opening up onto the sun in all its glory, to contemplate it in its nakedness, privately, is not the work of my reason: it is a cry escaping from me. For at the moment when the flash blinds me I am the splintering brilliance of a shattered life, and this life - agony and vertigo - opening up onto an infinite void, bursts and exhausts itself all at once in this void.20 The pineal gland also plays a role in the transformation of a scientist into a grotesque monster in the H. P. Lovecraft-inspired film From Beyond. In Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, Raoul Duke and his attorney amuse themselves by tricking a clueless police officer into beliveing that gangs of drug freaks in Los Angeles routinely decapitate suburban families to harvest their pineal glands.21 Later in the novel, the attorney frightens an adrenochrome-crazed Duke with various increasingly fantastical health defects that might result, should one eat extract of pineal gland as a psychoactive. Additional images Mesal aspect of a brain sectioned in the median sagittal plane. Dissection showing the ventricles of the brain. Hind- and mid-brains; postero-lateral view. Median sagittal section of brain. References ^ Macchi M, Bruce J 2004. Human pineal physiology and functional significance of melatonin. Front Neuroendocrinol 25 3-4: 177-95. doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2004.08.001. PMID 15589268. ^ Arendt J, Skene DJ 2005. Melatonin as a chronobiotic. Sleep Med Rev 9 1: 25-39. doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2004.05.002. PMID 15649736. Exogenous melatonin has acute sleepiness-inducing and temperature-lowering effects during 'biological daytime', and when suitably timed it is most effective around dusk and dawn it will shift the phase of the human circadian clock sleep, endogenous melatonin, core body temperature, cortisol to earlier advance phase shift or later delay phase shift times. ^ Bocchi G, Valdre G 1993. Physical, chemical, and mineralogical characterization of carbonate-hydroxyapatite concretions of the human pineal gland. J Inorg Biochem 49 3: 209-20. doi:10.1016/0162-01349380006-U. PMID 8381851. ^ Baconnier S, Lang S, Polomska M, Hilczer B, Berkovic G, Meshulam G 2002. Calcite microcrystals in the pineal gland of the human brain: first physical and chemical studies. Bioelectromagnetics 23 7: 488-95. doi:10.1002/bem.10053. PMID 12224052. ^ http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/hum/bter/2007/00000119/00000002/art00004 ^ Klein D 2004. The 2004 Aschoff/Pittendrigh lecture: Theory of the origin of the pineal gland--a tale of conflict and resolution. J Biol Rhythms 19 4: 264-79. doi:10.1177/0748730404267340. PMID 15245646. ^ Moore RY, Heller A, Wurtman RJ, Axelrod J. Visual pathway mediating pineal response to environmental light. Science 1967;155759:220-3. PMID 6015532 ^ Lerner AB, Case JD, Takahashi Y 1960. Isolation of melatonin and 5-methoxyindole-3-acetic acid from bovine pineal glands. J Biol Chem 235: 1992-7. PMID 14415935. ^ Axelrod J 1970. The pineal gland. Endeavour 29 108: 144-8. PMID 4195878. ^ Klein D 2004. The 2004 Aschoff/Pittendrigh lecture: Theory of the origin of the pineal gland--a tale of conflict and resolution. J Biol Rhythms 19 4: 264-79. doi:10.1177/0748730404267340. PMID 15245646. ^ Natesan A, Geetha L, Zatz M 2002. Rhythm and soul in the avian pineal. Cell Tissue Res 309 1: 35-45. doi:10.1007/s00441-002-0571-6. PMID 12111535. ^ Uz T, Akhisaroglu M, Ahmed R, Manev H 2003. The pineal gland is critical for circadian Period1 expression in the striatum and for circadian cocaine sensitization in mice. Neuropsychopharmacology 28 12: 2117-23. doi:10.1038/sj.npp.1300254. PMID 12865893. ^ Uz T, Dimitrijevic N, Akhisaroglu M, Imbesi M, Kurtuncu M, Manev H 2004. The pineal gland and anxiogenic-like action of fluoxetine in mice. Neuroreport 15 4: 691-4. doi:10.1097/00001756-200403220-00023. PMID 15094477. ^ Manev H, Uz T, Kharlamov A, Joo J 1996. Increased brain damage after stroke or excitotoxic seizures in melatonin-deficient rats. FASEB J 10 13: 1546-51. PMID 8940301. ^ Descartes and the Pineal Gland Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ^ Descartes R. Treatise of Man. New York: Prometheus Books; 2003. ISBN 1-59102-090-5 ^ Descartes R. The Passions of the Soul excerpted from Philosophy of the Mind, Chalmers, D. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.; 2002. ISBN-13 978-0-19-514581-6 ^ Hollier, D, Against Architecture: The Writings of Georges Bataille, trans. Betsy Wing, MIT, 1989. ^ p129; Against Architecture ^ L'Experience interieure, p101 trans. Leslie A Boldt: The Inner Experience Albany: SUNY Press ^ Thompson Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, p 147, New York: Harper External links Look up pineal gland in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. BrainMaps at UCDavis pineal%20gland NeuroNames hier-280 Histology at BU 14401loa - Endocrine System: pineal gland Anatomy Atlases - Microscopic Anatomy, plate 15.296 Images of Pineal region http://rad.usuhs.edu/medpix/medpix.html?mode=image_finderaction=searchsrchstr=pinealsrch_type=all#top http://isc.temple.edu/neuroanatomy/lab/atlas/pdhn/ v d e Brain: diencephalon Epithalamus Pineal body Habenula Habenular nuclei Stria medullaris Habenular trigone Habenular commissure Thalamus/nuclei paired: AN Ventral VA/VL, VP/VPM/VPL Lateral Pulvinar Metathalamus MG, LG midline: MD Intralaminar Centromedian Midline nuclear group Interthalamic adhesion Medullary laminae surface: reticular tracts to thalamus: Mammillothalamic tract Thalamic fasciculus Lenticular fasciculus Ansa lenticularis Medial lemniscus Trigeminal lemniscus Spinothalamic tract Lateral lemniscus Hypothalamus autonomic zones: Anterior parasympathetic/heat loss Posterior sympathetic/heat conservation endocrine - posterior pituitary: magnocellular/Paraventricular/Supraoptic oxytocin/vasopressin endocrine - other: parvocellular/Arcuate dopamine/GHRH Preoptic GnRH Suprachiasmatic melatonin emotion: Lateral hunger Ventromedial satiety Dorsomedial rage surface: Median eminence/Tuber cinereum Mammillary body Infundibulum tracts: Medial forebrain bundle Pituitary: Posterior is diencephalon, but anterior is glandular Subthalamus Subthalamic nucleus Zona incerta v d e Human anatomy, endocrine system: endocrine glands Hypothalamic/ pituitary axes Thyroid axis Thyroid gland Parafollicular cell, Thyroid epithelial cell, Thyroid isthmus, Lobes of thyroid gland, Pyramid of thyroid Parathyroid gland Oxyphil cell, Chief cell Adrenal axis Adrenal gland Gonadal axis Testes - Ovaries - Corpus luteum Pineal gland Pinealocyte Islets of pancreas Alpha cell - Beta cell - Delta cell - PP cell - Epsilon cell Retrieved from http://en..org/wiki/Pineal_gland Categories: Glands | Endocrine system | Head and neck | Sleep physiology | Circadian rhythms Views Article Discussion this page History Personal tools Log in / create account Navigation Main page Contents Featured content Current events Random article Search Go Search Interaction Community portal Recent changes Contact Donate to Help Toolbox What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Printable version Permanent link Cite this page Languages Bosanski БългарÑ?ки ÄŒesky Deutsch Þ‹Þ¨ÞˆÞ¬Þ€Þ¨Þ„Þ¦Þ?Þ° Ελληνικά Español Euskara Français Galego í•œêµì–´ Italiano עברית Latina Lietuvių МакедонÑ?ки Nederlands 日本語 ‪Norsk bokmÃ¥l‬ Polski Português РуÑ?Ñ?кий Simple English SlovenÄ?ina SlovenÅ¡Ä?ina Suomi Svenska ไทย УкраїнÑ?ька This page was last modified on 13 September 2008, at 18:49
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