glandula pinealis
[TA] pineal gland: a small flattened cone-shaped body in the epithalamus, lying in the midline above the superior colliculi and below the splenium of the corpus callosum. Its hormonal function in human physiology is not firmly established; in response to norepinephrine it synthesizes and releases melatonin, whose rate of release declines when light activates retinal photoreceptors. Called also epiphysis cerebri, corpus pineale [TA alternative], and pineal body.
Glandula pinealis (pineal body) and adjacent structures in an axial MRI scan.
Medical dictionary.
2011.