Bulbourethral gland

Image:Male anatomy.png

The bulbourethral glands (or Cowper's glands) secrete a clear fluid known as pre-ejaculateor Cowper's fluid (colloquially known as "pre-cum") which is generated upon sexual arousal. They are two small rounded and somewhat lobulated bodies of the male human about the size of peas located behind and lateral to the membranous portion of the urethra. They are also between the two layers of the fasciaof the urogenital diaphragm. They are enclosed by the transverse fibers of the Sphincter urethrae membranaceae.

The excretory duct of each of these glands are approximately 2.5 cm long. These ducts pass forward beneath the mucous membrane on the floor of the cavernous portion of the urethra about 2.5 cm in front of the urogenital diaphragm.

Structure

Each gland is made up of several lobules, held together by a fibrous investment. Each lobuleconsists of a number of acini, lined by columnar epithelial cells, opening into one duct, which joins with the ducts of other lobules outside the gland to form the single excretory duct.

Trivia

Cowper's glands in males are homologousto Bartholin's glandsin females.

They (apparently) gradually diminish in size as age advances.

Note: The first version of this article was taken from the public domaintext of the 1918 edition of Gray's Anatomy, and so may not reflect modern anatomical knowledge -- please update as necessary

lt:Kuperio liauka nl:Cowperse klier ja:尿道球腺 sl:Mehurčasta žleza sv:Cowpers körtlar cs:Cowperova ?láza

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulbourethral+gland Wikipedia article Bulbourethral gland.