Anatomy study note · Abdomen

Suprarenal gland

Yellowish retroperitoneal endocrine glands on the upper poles of the kidneys, enclosed in the renal fascia but separated from the kidney by perirenal fat.

Key points

• Right: pyramidal, behind the IVC. Left: crescentic.
• 3 arteries (inferior phrenic, aorta, renal); 1 vein (right → IVC, left → left renal vein).
• Medulla gets preganglionic sympathetic fibres directly.
• Cushing, Addison, phaeochromocytoma.
• Cortex: coelomic epithelium (mesoderm). Medulla: neural crest.
• Glomerulosa: aldosterone. Fasciculata: cortisol. Reticularis: androgens.
• Medulla: chromaffin cells, adrenaline.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Features · Blood supply · Nerve supply · Lymph drainage · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 7, PDF pp. 950–954
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 18, PDF pp. 348, 350–351
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 13, PDF pp. 245–248

More from the abdomen

• Testicular vessels
• Testis
• Transverse colon
• Transversus abdominis
• Umbilical cord
• Ureter
• Vas deferens
• Abdominal aorta
• Abdominal lymph nodes
• Appendix
• Ascending colon
• Biliary tree

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