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Biology of the duodenal (Brunner’s) glands

  • Chapter
Ultrastructure of the Digestive Tract

Part of the book series: Electron Microscopy in Biology and Medicine ((EMBM,volume 4))

Abstract

The duodenal glands were first observed in 1679 by Wepfer (1) who described them during the autopsy of a beheaded woman. Wepfer described their arrangement in the duodenum and observed that when they were macerated in water, the duodenal glands discharged copious amounts of mucus. Nine years later, Brunner (2,3), who was Wepfer’s son-in-law (4), described the duodenal glands in the horse, ox, sheep, deer, dog, and beaver and presented a brief description in man. Brunner considered these glands to be accessory pancreatic tissue and termed them “glandulae duodeni” or “pancreas secundarium.” Middeldorpf (5) realized that the secretion of the duodenal glands differed from that of the pancreas and suggested that these glands be designated “the glands of Brunner.” Florey and Harding (6,7) found that the region of the duodenum containing the duodenal glands is more resistant to acid erosion than other regions of the small intestine.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia, 65212, Columbia, Missouri, USA

    William J. Krause

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  1. William J. Krause
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    P. M. Motta M.D., Ph.D.

  2. Department of Anatomy, Osaka University Medical School, Osaka, Japan

    H. Fujita M.D.

  3. Department of Anatomy, University Medical School, Rome, Italy

    S. Correr Ph.D.

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© 1988 Martinus Nijhoff Publishing, Boston

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Krause, W.J. (1988). Biology of the duodenal (Brunner’s) glands. In: Motta, P.M., Fujita, H., Correr, S. (eds) Ultrastructure of the Digestive Tract. Electron Microscopy in Biology and Medicine, vol 4. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2071-5_5

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