what are breasts? as in what are they made of?

Question

this is an ongoing arguement between my friends! One says that they are an organ, one says that they are a muscle. I say neither, but who knows!

Answer 1

mammary glands,.. tissue surrounds these glands

Answer 2

Okay, there's your ribcage/chest wall. Your pectoral muscle sits on top of that, and the breast is on top of that. So to correct a previous answer I saw, there is no muscle tissue in your breast. The muscle you're thinking about is between your breast and your ribs, it is not part of your breast.

The breast itself is basically a cluster of milk-producing lobules and ducts, and that's surrounded by fatty tissue. It is also known as a complex mammary gland. Each complex mammary gland consists of 10-20 simple glands. I could list a bunch of other scientific mumbo jumbo here but I won't.

Basically, the definition of an organ is "a group of tissues that perform a specific function or group of functions." The mammary gland (aka breast) is considered an organ, it is located in the thorax region of the body (right on top of the pectoral muscle) and its function is to produce milk for offspring.

Answer 3

The breasts are mostly fatty tissue along with lactation ducts. They are not organs nor a muscle. They are just fatty tissue! Good Luck! If you want to prove it you can probably look up human anatomy and physiology online and look into the reproduction chapters. They are not listed under the muscle chapters I can tell you that much! Again good luck!

Answer 4

breasts, get ready for it....are fat cells, some muscle strands, but mostly fat cells along with your mammory glands.

here is a section from wikipedia

The breasts are covered by skin; each breast has one nipple surrounded by the areola. The areola is colored from pink to dark brown and has several sebaceous glands. The larger mammary glands within the breast produce the milk. These are distributed throughout the breast, with two-thirds of the tissue found within 30 mm of the base of the nipple[1]. These are drained to the nipple by between 4 and 18 lactiferous ducts, where each duct has its own opening. The network formed by these ducts is complex, like the tangled roots of a tree. It is not always arranged radially, and branches close to the nipple. The ducts near the nipple do not act as milk reservoirs. Ramsay et al. have shown that conventionally described lactiferous sinuses do not, in fact, exist.

The rest of the breast is composed of connective tissue (collagen and elastin), adipose tissue (fat), and Cooper's ligaments. The ratio of glands to adipose tissues rises from 1:1 in nonlactating women to 2:1 in lactating women[1].

Answer 5

They are sacs which are situated over a musle (pectoral, I think), containing a combination of tubes which produce milk. This sac is quite small but can swell when a woman is pregnant or around the time of her period. Over this is a layer of fat, breats are mostly fat. However womens hormones cause them to deposit fat in this area, so just because a woman has big breasts doesnt mean she has more fat, it is a localised deposit of fat.

Answer 6

Breast consist of fatty tissue that contains ducts for producing milk for a woman's offspring

Answer 7

I think they are muscles, they are not an organ because they don't actually do anything or serve any real purpose until you have a baby

Answer 8

They are not a muscle and nor are they an organ. They are simply made up of tissue fat!!

Answer 9

fatty tissue... if Icould only find a way to suck it from the hips to the breasts I'd be a millionaire

Answer 10

They are modified sweat glands augmentated with fat and secretory system with no muscle.

Answer 11

In this day and age id say mostly saline and/or silicone