Myoepithelial cells are a type of cells found in certain tissues of our body, like the salivary glands and mammary glands (which produce milk). These cells have special properties that allow them to contract and help squeeze out substances produced by the gland. So, in simpler terms,
myoepithelial cells are like little muscles in our glands that help push out important substances.
Full definition
Barbareschi M, Pecciarini L, Cangi MG, Macri E, Rizzo A, Viale G, Doglioni C. p63, a p53 homologue, is a selective nuclear marker
of myoepithelial cells of the human breast.
SV = Secretory vesicle; RER = Rough endoplasmic reticulum; BM = Basement membrane; MFG = Milk fat globule; CLD = Cytoplasmic lipid droplet; N = Nucleus; PC = Plasma cell; FDA = Fat - depleted adipocyte; TJ = Tight junction; GJ = Gap junction; D = Desmosome; ME
= Myoepithelial cell.
The tissue, called the stroma, includes fat cells, or adipocytes, that provide padding; fibroblasts, which make the framework for tissue; pericytes in blood vessels, which are contractile cells that help regulate blood pressure; as well
as myoepithelial cells comprising the outer layer of the ductal system through which milk flows.
The basic components of the mammary gland are the alveoli (hollow cavities, a few millimetres large) lined with milk - secreting cuboidal cells and surrounded
by myoepithelial cells.
The researchers have shown that this marker protein
changes myoepithelial cells in breast tissue to promote tumor cell invasion in vitro and enhances mammary tumor growth in vivo.
Rare spontaneous myoepitheliomas arising
from myoepithelial cells of various exocrine glands have been observed in The Jackson Laboratory substrains.
The hollow «tube» that forms the milk duct is built from luminal cells; these are surrounded by a thin layer of cells
called myoepithelial cells.
The myoepithelial cells can contract, similar to muscle cells, and thereby push the milk from the alveoli through the lactiferous ducts toward the nipple, where it collects in widenings (sinuses) of the ducts.
This interaction causes
the myoepithelial cells — on the outer layer of the ductal structure — to contract, squeezing the luminal cells within.
The myoepithelial cells can contract, similar to muscle cells, and thereby push the milk from the alveoli through the lactiferous ducts toward the nipple, where it collects in widenings (sinuses) of the ducts.
Receptors on the surface of
the myoepithelial cells are designed to interact with a hormone, oxytocin, released during lactation.