merocrineadj.
/ˈmɛrə(ʊ)krʌɪn/, /ˈmɛrə(ʊ)krɪn/, U.S. /ˈmɛrəkr(ə)n/, /ˈmɛrəˌkrin/, /ˈmɛrəˌkraɪn/ Physiology.
Designating a gland whose secretory product is released without the loss of cells or their cytoplasm. Also: designating or relating to this type of secretion. Cf. apocrine adj., holocrine adj. at holo- comb. form .
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the world > life > the body > secretory organs > gland > types of gland > [adjective]
pituita1598
pituitary1615
lymphatic1649
conglomerated1656
conglobate1666
conglomerate1666
conglobated1676
lymphic1681
conglobulate1709
sudoriferous1713
sudorific1721
sebaceous1728
trajectory1747
cryptal1754
cryptous1804
muciparous1825
racemose1834
racemiform1837
ganglionary1842
muciferous1842
sudoriparous1851
sebiparous1853
racemous1854
sebiferous1858
perilymphangial1873
lymphadenoid1877
perilymphatic1877
mucigenous1881
pituital1890
tubuloracemosec1900
acinic1903
holocrine1905
merocrine1905
exocrine1911
endocrine1914
endocrinic1914
endocrinous1914
endocrinal1923
apocrine1926
eccrine1931
psychoendocrine1946
acinar1949
nodal1954
mucigenic1965
1905 G. M. Gould Dict. New Med. Terms 358/1 Merocrine.
1928 E. V. Cowdry Special Cytol. I. ii. 36 The sweat, or sudoriferous glands, are of distinctly different nature... Ranvier speaks of these glands as ‘merocrine’.
1937 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 227 489 Thus the secretion formation is purely merocrine.
1965 J. Lee & F. Knowles Animal Hormones v. 91 [In the thyroid gland] the colloid is secreted from the surface of the epithelium into the lumen of the acinus (merocrine secretion).
1985 C. R. Leeson et al. Textbk. Histol. (ed. 5) ii. 90/2 The great majority of glands are of the merocrine type whose secretory product is formed in and discharged from the cell without the loss of any cytoplasm.
2000 Glycobiology 10 149 Mucous granules released mucus by merocrine exocytosis in mouse gallbladder epithelium.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1905