By the end of the nineteenth century, the basic morphology, histochemistry, and embryology of the adrenal gland were known. Subsequently, the adrenal staining with chromate salts identified the CCs this was followed by the establishment of the embryological origin of the adrenal medulla, and the identification of adrenaline-storing vesicles. The first historical period extends back to 1852 when Albert Kölliker first described the fine structure and function of the adrenal medulla. Hence, the review is divided into two periods namely, before 1982 and from this year to 2022, when the 21st ISCCB meeting was just held in Hamburg, Germany.
The review emerged in the context of a series of meetings that started on the Spanish island of Ibiza in 1982 with the name of the International Symposium on Chromaffin Cell Biology (ISCCB). This historical review focuses on the evolution of the knowledge accumulated during the last two centuries on the biology of the adrenal medulla gland and its chromaffin cells (CCs).
