Terminology Service for NFDI4Health
JSON

Harderian gland

Go to external page http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/UBERON_0004187

The Harderian gland is an anterior orbital gland usually associated with the nictitating membrane, and produces and secretes a variety of substances to the eye, depending upon the species[GO]. [ http://amigo.geneontology.org/amigo/term/GO:0070384 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harderian_gland ]

Term info

Label

Harderian gland

Synonyms
  • Hardarian gland
  • Harder's gland
  • gland of Hardarian
  • glandula palpebra tertia profundus
database cross reference
Subsets

pheno_slim, organ_slim

latin term
glandula palpebra tertia profundus [ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7559104 ]

function notes

The functions attributed to the gland are many and diverse. Amongst these, it has been held to be a site of immune responses, a source of thermoregulatory lipids, a source of pheromones, a photoprotective organ and part of a retinal-pineal axis. It is arguably the last remaining large organ of widespread dis- tribution among the vertebrates to which we cannot confidently ascribe a confirmed function., In mammals, the gland excretes an oily substance used to preen the fur[WP], In some animals it acts as an accessory to the lacrimal gland, secreting fluid that eases movement of the nictitating membrane[WP]

has related synonym

deep gland of the nictitating membrane

id

UBERON:0004187

present in taxon

http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/NCBITaxon_9397, http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/NCBITaxon_8293, http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/NCBITaxon_10047, http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/NCBITaxon_9845, http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/NCBITaxon_8342, http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/NCBITaxon_9608, http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/NCBITaxon_9681, http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/NCBITaxon_9263

structure notes

The harderian gland may be compound tubular (MacLeod, 1880; Paule, 1957) or compound tubuloacinar/tubuloalveolar (Aureli, 1957; Hoffman, 1971).

taxon notes

In mouse the HG appears in the posterior part of eye region, in the form of nonluminated tubules between the sixteenth and eighteenth days of gestation. At birth it is still not differentiated histologically. In birds the HG originates from the conjunctival epithelium at a late embryonic stage. In the English sparrow, Passer domesticus (incubation period of about 13 days), it appears between the seventh and the eighth days of incubation. In the chick embryo (incubation period of about 21 days) it originates between the eleventh and the twelfth days.[PMID:9156609], In the limbless, burrowing amphibian Apoda (Caecilians) the harderian gland is very large, filling much of the orbit and lubricating a retractile sensory tentacle rather than the eye (Walls, 1942; Wolff, 1948).