pineal gland (body)

Structure: - a small, unpaired flattened body, attached at its anterior end to the region of the posterior commissure & habenular commissure - it lies inthe depression between the 2 superior colliculi, below the splenium of the corpus callosum. - the pineal is a glandular structure, consisting of follicles containing epithelioid cells & lime concretions called "brain sand". Afferents: - despite its attachment to the brain, it appears to receive nerve fibers exclusively from the peripheral autonomic nervous system. Function: - the pineal produces melatonin

Related

melatonin splenium of corpus callosum

General

circumventricular organ brain structure

References

Stedman's Medical Dictionary 27th ed, Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, 1999