You Are a Professor Supervising First Year Medical Students

Multiple Choice

You are a professor supervising first year medical students.One student is examining the adrenal gland of his cadaver."Wow!" he exclaims,"This person must have had an endocrine problem.Their adrenal gland lacks any kind of duct connecting it to the bloodstream.The hormones could only have oozed out." How do you respond?

A) "That makes their adrenal gland similar to an exocrine organ."
B) "Do you see signs of adrenal insufficiency,such as low fat stores or muscle degeneration?"
C) "That's normal.The hormones ooze out and diffuse into nearby capillaries,which is why endocrine glands are sometimes called 'ductless glands'."
D) "Look carefully and you will see the nerves that transport the hormones into the bloodstream."