UParathyroid 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 spaces occupied almost exclusively by blood capillaries. Oxyphilic cells are not observed and there are no adipocytes in the connective tissue septa.