Right adrenal medulla
Medulla glandulae suprarenalis
Endocrine & glandsGlandsAbdomenRight side
- What it is
- The dark red-brown core of the adrenal, a modified sympathetic ganglion whose chromaffin cells pour hormones straight into the blood instead of onto a nerve target.
- Function
- Releases adrenaline (≈80 %) and noradrenaline within seconds of sympathetic stimulation — faster heart, dilated airways, mobilised glucose.
- Size
- A central plate a few millimetres thick, ~10 % of the gland
- Clinical note
- A phaeochromocytoma is a tumour of the medulla that causes episodic pounding headache, sweating and dangerous blood-pressure surges; ~10 % are outside the adrenal, bilateral or malignant.