interlobular stroma of mammary gland

Two connective tissue compartments are distinguished within the mammary gland, and the interlobular stroma is the outer of the pair. It separates the lobules and their intralobular stroma from any substantial direct contact with the surrounding adipose tissue, so it functions as the partition between glandular tissue and fat. It is also the more compact of the two stromal compartments, denser in texture than the intralobular stroma that lies immediately around the glandular units. This distinction between a looser stroma inside the lobule and a compact stroma between lobules is the basis on which mammary connective tissue is subdivided in histological description, and the structure is classified as a form of mammary gland connective tissue.