Part 2 Glandular Epithelium and Connective Tissue Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering types of multicellular simple and compound glands, modes of glandular secretion, connective tissue general characteristics, and connective tissue fiber types based on lecture slides.

Glandular Epithelium

Epithelium that produces secretions.

Endocrine Glands

Ductless glands that produce hormones that are secreted into interstitial fluid or the circulatory system.

Exocrine Glands

Ducted glands that release their product into a duct that brings it to an epithelial surface.

Merocrine Secretion

A mode of glandular secretion where the secretory product is packaged into vesicles that are released at the apical surface by exocytosis.

Apocrine Secretion

A mode of glandular secretion where the apical portion and its secretory contents pinch off from the rest of the cell while the original cell remains intact.

Holocrine Secretion

A mode of glandular secretion involving the rupture of the mature gland cell to release its contents, after which new gland cells differentiate from surrounding tissue.

Connective Tissue

The most abundant and widely distributed of all tissue types, involved in protecting, supporting, and binding together other body tissues.

Extracellular Matrix

Nonliving substances found outside cells in connective tissue, composed of a watery ground substance and a variety of protein and polysaccharide fibers.

Collagen Fibers

The strongest, thickest, and most abundant connective tissue fibers, composed of collagen protein and found in cartilage, tendons, bones, and ligaments.

Elastin Fibers

Thinner connective tissue fibers composed of elastin protein that can stretch and recoil, found in elastic tissues, and are less abundant and less strong than collagen fibers.

Reticular Fibers

Highly branched, delicate, thin connective tissue fibers composed of collagen type III, found in organs with mesh-like structures such as the spleen and lymphoid organs.