Adrenal gland.

Adrenal glands.

Adrenal gland, male mouse (C: cortex, M: medulla).

Adrenal gland, female mouse, age about 3 months (C: cortex, M: medulla, X: X-zone).

Median sections of the adrenal glands (one per side) are required in order to demonstrate a representative part of both cortical and medullary tissues.

Relevant differences between rats and mice:
The mouse adrenal differs from that of the rat by the absence of a zona reticularis in the inner cortex and an additional "X-zone" at the junction between cortex and medulla in females which regresses with age (Nyska and Maronpot, 1999). The adrenal gland in male mice is very small. Therefore, careful cutting is required to obtain medullary tissue in the section.

See also:
      Introduction

	Frith CH (1996) Histology, adrenal gland, mouse. In: Jones TC, Capen CC, Mohr U (eds) Monographs on pathology of laboratory animals. Endocrine system, 2nd edition. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York Tokyo, pp 386–391
	Hebel R, Stromberg MW (1986) Anatomy and embryology of the laboratory rat. BioMed, Wörthsee, pp 92–96
	Nyska A, Maronpot RR (1999) Adrenal Gland. In: Maronpot RR, Boorman GA, Gaul BW (eds) Pathology of the mouse. Reference and atlas. Cache River Press, Vienna, pp 509–536
	Paget EG, Thomson R (1979) Standard operating procedures in pathology. MTP Press, Lancaster, pp 134–139

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Reference: Kittel B, Ruehl-Fehlert C, Morawietz G, et al. (2004) Revised guides for organ sampling and trimming in rats and mice – Part 2. A joint publication of the RITA and NACAD groups. Exp Toxic Pathol 55: 413–431