Parathyroid gland of a child, light micrograph. Unlike other endocrine glands, the parathyroid glands show remarkable changes in their appearance according to the age of the individual. In the first years of life, the gland has a compact appearance, with a parenchyma formed exclusively by chief cells that are arranged to form cell cords among which are narrow connective tissue septa occupied almost exclusively by blood capillaries. Oxyphilic cells are not observed. Although there are important individual variations, in postnatal life, the first adipocytes begin to appear in the connective tissue, which will later increase until they occupy an important part of the volume of the gland.