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pineal gland
Sign in to saveAlso known as pineal body, conarium, epiphysis cerebri
small endocrine gland found in most vertebrates, which produces melatonin; in humans, located in the epithalamus, in a groove where the two halves of the thalamus join; its shape and size resembles a pine nut, after which it is named
The pineal gland is a small gland in the brain that produces melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate sleep and wake cycles. Located deep in the brain where two structures called the thalamus meet, it gets its name from its resemblance to a pine nut.
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Research
16,019 papers- The pineal gland.ReviewNeonatal network : NN · 2000Paquette HDOI: 10.1891/0730-0832.19.3.9
- Current understanding of pineal gland structure and function in headache.ReviewCephalalgia : an international journal of headache · 2019Peres MF, Valença MM, Amaral FG et al.DOI: 10.1177/0333102419868187
- Revisiting the pineal gland: a review of calcification, masses, precocious puberty, and melatonin functions.ReviewThe International journal of neuroscience · 2020Patel S, Rahmani B, Gandhi J et al.DOI: 10.1080/00207454.2019.1692838
- Human Pineal Gland Involutionary Process: New Findings.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2023Junemann O, Bukreeva I, Otlyga DA et al.DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glad091
- The pineal gland from development to function.ReviewCurrent topics in developmental biology · 2013Sapède D, Cau EDOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-416021-7.00005-5
- The pineal gland.ReviewJournal of the American Medical Women's Association · 1968Greisheimer EM
- The pharmacology of the pineal gland.ReviewAnnual review of pharmacology and toxicology · 1976Minneman KP, Wurtman RJDOI: 10.1146/annurev.pa.16.040176.000341
- Pineal Microdialysis.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2022de Souza CAP, Nishino FA, do Amaral FG et al.DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2593-4_9
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Encyclopedic overview
The pineal gland (also called the pineal body) is a small endocrine gland in the brain of most vertebrates. It produces melatonin, a serotonin-derived hormone, which modulates sleep patterns following the diurnal cycles. The shape of the gland resembles a pine cone, which gives it its name.
The pineal gland is located in the epithalamus, near the center of the brain, between the two hemispheres, tucked in a groove where the two halves of the thalamus join. It is one of the neuroendocrine secretory circumventricular organs in which capillaries are mostly permeable to solutes in the blood.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “pineal gland” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
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