You are a professor supervising first year medical students. One student is examining the adrenal gland of his cadaver. "Wow!" he exclaims, "This person must have had an endocrine problem. Their adrenal gland lacks any kind of duct connecting it to the bloodstream. The hormones could only have oozed out." How do you respond?

Question

A.  "That makes their adrenal gland similar to an exocrine organ."
B.  "Do you see signs of adrenal insufficiency, such as low fat stores or muscle degeneration?"
C.  "That's normal. The hormones ooze out and diffuse into nearby capillaries, which is why endocrine glands are sometimes called 'ductless glands'."
D.  "Look carefully and you will see the nerves that transport the hormones into the bloodstream."

Clarify Question
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
What type of thinking is required?

Gather Content
What do you already know about adrenal gland? What other information is related to the question?

Choose Answer
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?

Reflect on Process
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?

Answer 1

C.  "That's normal. The hormones ooze out and diffuse into nearby capillaries, which is why endocrine glands are sometimes called 'ductless glands'."

Clarify Question
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
        · How do adrenal glands release their hormones?
What type of thinking is required?
            o This is an evaluate question because you have to judge different possibilities for an explanation of why adrenal glands do not have a duct like other glands.

Gather Content
What do you already know about adrenal gland? What other information is related to the question?
        · You already know that the adrenal gland is part of the endocrine system. What you may not know is that the adrenal gland has one of the greatest networks of arteries and veins of any tissue of the body. Thus, the adrenal gland does not need a duct, but the hormones can diffuse directly into the capillaries.

Choose Answer
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
        · Nerves do not transport hormones, so that answer cannot be correct. Hormones are transported via the bloodstream. The adrenal gland is a “ductless gland” that diffuses hormones into nearby capillaries. Thus, just because it does not have a duct, does not mean it will result in adrenal insufficiency. Exocrine glands release substances via ducts. As adrenal glands don’t have ducts, then they are not exocrine organs.

Reflect on Process
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
        o Answering this question correctly depended understanding that adrenal glands do not have ducts, but that hormones diffuse directly through a bed of capillaries. If you got the right answer, great! If not, which answer did you choose? Did you think that the adrenal gland is an exocrine organ since it “excretes” hormones to the surrounding blood vessels?