Journal of Gynecology and Reproductive Health

The Breast Is An Accessory Organ Of The Female Reproductive System

Abstract

Sinisa Franjic

The breast is the largest skin gland, characteristic of the female sex. It is located on the ventral side of the chest at the border of the bone and cartilage of the fourth rib. The breast is a genetically apocrine skin gland. The breast of a female newborn is no different from the breast of a male newborn. Both secrete secretions under the influence of the hormone prolactin immediately after birth. Until the onset of puberty, male and female breasts develop equally, and then the male breast usually does not develop further, while the female under the influence of female sex hormones develops and its development ends only during pregnancy and lactation. A woman’s breast is a complex tubuloalveolar gland, made up of 20 to 25 individual glands. Each of them, together with connective and adipose tissue, builds one lobe. The lobes are separated from each other by denser connective tissue, and each lobe of the breast has one main drainage channel that ends in a funnel-shaped extension on the nipple. The breast of a sexually mature woman changes cyclically depending on the menstrual cycle.

PDF