The female breast is one of the secondary sexual characteristics and can vary greatly from individual to individual in terms of size and shape. The primary function of the female breast is to provide nutrition for the newborn child through breast milk.
What is the female breast?
Schematic diagram showing the anatomy and structure of the female breast. Click to enlarge. The female breast (mamma) develops as a paired secondary sexual characteristic only during puberty. Each of the two female breasts consists of a glandula mammaria (mammary gland) as well as connective tissue tracts and fatty tissue, which can make up as much as 80 percent of the breast tissue outside of lactation and determines the individual size and shape. From the onset of puberty, the female breast is subject to constant hormonal fluctuations, which correlate with the menstrual cycle, hormonal changes during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and age-dependent changes in hormonal balance, and which, in addition to weight fluctuations, also influence the structure and shape of the female breast. With increasing age (approximately from the age of 40), the mammary gland body is successively substituted by connective and later also fatty tissue, and the mammary tissue loses volume and elasticity.
Anatomy and structure
The female breast rests on the pectoral muscle approximately between the third and seventh ribs. Each of the paired mammary gland bodies (glandula mammaria) has 15 to 20 individual glands (lobi, glandular lobes) separated by loose connective tissue. These in turn branch in a tree-like manner into grape-shaped lobules (lobuli), the end pieces of which consist of milk vesicles (alveoli), in which breast milk is produced during lactation. Via a ductus lactiferi (main excretory duct or milk duct), the individual glands open radially into the nipple. Each mammary duct unfolds in a sac-like manner in front of the orifice to form a so-called sinus lactiferi (milk sac), which acts as a milk reservoir during breastfeeding. The nipple is enclosed by an areola mammae, which varies in size from individual to individual and is highly pigmented. The areola mammae has numerous sweat and sebaceous glands. The muscle and nerve cells there ensure an erection of the nipple in response to appropriate stimulation (including sexual arousal, touching the child during lactation). Lymphatic channels and blood vessels also run through the female breast. Lymphatic drainage from the breast is primarily provided by the lymph nodes of the axilla.
Functions and tasks
Not all lumps in the breast, indicate breast cancer. Nevertheless, they should be clarified in mammography. The primary biological function of the female breast is to nourish the newborn child with breast milk (lactation). For this purpose, the mammary glands of the female breast produce breast milk during lactation, with which the infant is adequately supplied with nutrients. In addition, this milk contains antibodies that provide the child, whose immune system is not yet developed, with sufficient immune protection. Already during pregnancy a kind of colostrum can be formed, which is very rich in antigens and proteins. In the areola mammae (areola) there are 10 to 15 small nodules or sebaceous glands (Montgomery glands) arranged in a circle, which provide apocrine secretion postnatally. On the one hand, they protect the skin of the nursing breast and ensure an air seal between the infant’s mouth and the nipple, facilitating the lactation process. In addition, the milk sacs serve as a milk reservoir during lactation and perform the pumping function. In addition to this primary function, the female breast is thought to have evolved as a specifically human sexual dimorphism designed to exert an attractive force on potential sexual or reproductive partners. In particular, the nipples of the female breast are considered an erogenous zone.
Diseases and ailments
The female breast may be subject to various genetic or acquired malformations or abnormalities. Possible mammary abnormalities include aberrant mammary (abnormally localized mammary gland tissue), polythely (more than two nipples), acquired malformations such as mammary hypertrophy (oversized breast) or mastoptosis (sagging breast), asymmetries such as congenital anisomastia (unequal-sized breasts), and postoperative or -traumatic acquired deformities.In polymastia, excessive glandular tissue develops along the milk groins. In nursing mothers, inflammation of the mammary gland is often observed, which is triggered by bacterial or viral pathogens and whose spread usually occurs via the lymphatic vessels. In the second half of the cycle, a feeling of tension may develop in the breasts due to water retention (mastodynia), while a hormonal imbalance between progesterone and estrogen concentrations may trigger benign remodeling processes of the mammary gland tissue (mastopathy). As a result of benign remodeling processes in the glandular tissue, cysts as well as a fibroadenoma (benign tumor-like mammary gland neoplasm) or mammary duct papilloma may also manifest. Malignant changes of the female breast (breast carcinoma), one of the most common tumor diseases in women, include ductal (neoplasia of the milk ducts) or lobular carcinoma (neoplasia in the lobules), inflammatory breast carcinoma, and Paget’s carcinoma (neoplasia of the nipple usually originating from ductal carcinoma).
