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Concept
Nipple
Summary
The nipple is a raised region of tissue on the surface of the breast from which, in females, milk leaves the breast through the lactiferous ducts to feed an infant. The milk can flow through the nipple passively or it can be ejected by smooth muscle contractions that occur along with the ductal system. Male mammals also have nipples but without the same level of function, and often surrounded by body hair.
The nipple is surrounded by the areola, which is often a darker colour than the surrounding skin. A nipple is often called a teat when referring to non-humans. "Nipple" or "teat" can also be used to describe the flexible mouthpiece of a baby bottle. In humans, the nipples of both males and females can be stimulated as part of sexual arousal. In many cultures, human female nipples are sexualized, or regarded as sex objects and evaluated in terms of their physical characteristics and sexiness. Some cultures have little to no sexualization of the nipple, and going topless presents no barrier.
In mammals, a nipple (also called mammary papilla or teat) is a small projection of skin containing the outlets for 15–20 lactiferous ducts arranged cylindrically around the tip. Marsupials and eutherian mammals typically have an even number of nipples arranged bilaterally, from as few as 2 to as many as 19.
The skin of the nipple is rich in a supply of special nerves that are sensitive to certain stimuli: these are slowly-adapting and rapidly-adapting cutaneous mechanoreceptors. Mechanoreceptors are identified respectively by Type I slowly-adapting with multiple Merkel corpuscle end-organs and Type II slowly-adapting with single Ruffini corpuscle end-organs, as well as Type I rapidly-adapting with multiple Meissner corpuscle end-organs and Type II rapidly-adapting with single Pacinian corpuscle end-organs. The dominant nerve supply to the nipple comes from the lateral cutaneous branches of fourth intercostal nerve. The nipple is also used as an anatomical landmark. It marks the T4 (fourth thoracic vertebra) dermatome and rests over the approximate level of the diaphragm.
Official source
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