Thyroid gland. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a fracture through the thyroid gland revealing several follicles (orange and green). Bet

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Thyroid gland. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a fracture through the thyroid gland revealing several follicles (orange and green). Between the follicles is connective tissue (red). A follicle consists of a layer of epithelial cells (green) around a central storage chamber. The cells produce the thyroid hormones tri-iodothyronin (T3) and thyroxine (T4) and secrete them into the central chamber where they are stored as the glycoprotein thyroid colloid (orange). Thyroid hormones regulate the body's metabolism. Magnification: x35 when printed at 10 centimetres wide.

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Size: 2900px × 2173px
Photo credit: © STEVE GSCHMEISSNER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: anatomical, anatomy, biological, biology, body, chamber, chambers, colloid, coloured, connective, endocrine, epithelial, epithelium, false-coloured, follicle, follicles, fracture, fractured, gland, glycoprotein, hormone, hormones, human, image, images, magnified, metabolic, metabolism, microscopic, secretory, section, sem, storage, subjects, thyroid, thyroxine, tissue, tri-iodothyronine