A Study on the Size of Pineal Gland in Different Ages

Introduction: At various times in the history of medicine the precise function of the small discrete pea-like structure we have in the centre of our brains, called the pineal gland (“corpus pineale”), was considered to be a memory valve, a valve controlling circulating vital fluids, the seat of the soul, and the site of a presumed pathology causing certain types of mental illness. In the mid nineteen fifties this confusion began to clear when the pineal gland’s true function was discovered. The gland is a neuroendocrine gland and consists of parenchymal cells, called pinealocytes and neuroglial cells. Melatonin, 5methoxy- N-acetyltryptamin, is a neurohormone of the brain produced by pineal gland. The modern systematic study of the pineal gland began in 1954. There are very few literatures where the size of the pineal gland has been described.

Material and Methods: In the present study 50 numbers of MRI cases done for various purposes, where no pathology of brain was detected were taken in the Radiology department of Gauhati Medical College after obtaining due consent. The length (Anteroposterior diameter) and breadth (Cranio-caudaldiameter) of the pineal gland was recorded. The data recorded was analysed statistically using Student’s T-test. P value d” 0.05 is considered as statistically significant.

Result: The maximum mean length of pineal gland was observed asbe 5.715±0.651 mm in the age group of ‘20 to below 40’ years.

Discussion: The findings of our study has the similar [ty with the observations made by other researchers f this field.

Conclusion: Such a study may be useful in establishing a database which may be useful in correlating the size of the gland with various brain pathology.