As result of aging, many endocrine glands undergo involution, losing the ability to produce
hormones. I had a total body scan, for no better reason than to have my medical insurance
help pay for an underutilized MRI machine. The report told me my sella turcica, where my
pituitary used to be is just a little puddle of stagnant water. And my gonads are almost gone.
That's involution.
involution
n.
5L involutio < involutus, pp. of involvere6
1 an involving or being involved; entanglement
2 anything that is involved; complication; intricacy
3 Anat. the process of rolling or curling inward, as in the formation of a gastrula
4 Biol. a retrograde or degenerative change
5 Gram. an involved construction, esp. one created by a clause interposed between a subject and its predicate
6 Math. the raising of a quantity to any given power
7 Med. a) the return of an organ to its normal size after distention, as of the womb after childbirth b) a decline in the normal functions of the human body, or of an organ, that occurs with age, as the changes taking place at menopause
in#vo[lu4tion[al
adj.
in#vo[lu4tion[ar#y
adj.