Abstract:Forest Musk Deer (Moschus berezovskii) is a kind of national first-class protected wild animal and is famous for secreting musk. The musk is a special substance secreted by the musk gland of male Forest Musk Deer. Due to excessive hunting and habitat fragmentation, the number of wild forest musk deer has dropped sharply to an endangered status. Since the 1950s, artificial breeding of Forest Musk Deer has been conducted in China, accumulated rich experienc. However, little progress has been made in both basic theories and key technologies in the many aspects including nutritional needs, feed processing and feeding management, genetic characteristics and breeding, reproduction, as well as musk secretion and extraction, which affect its population growth and musk yield. Understanding the secretion mechanism is essential to increase the yield of musk. This paper reviews the research progress on the microstructure and ultrastructure of Forest Musk Deer gland, the musk secretion process, the regulation of musk secretion as revealed by molecular markers, the relationship between sex hormones and musk secretion, and musk secretion related genome and transcriptome changes, in order to provide a reference for the study of the molecular mechanisms of musk secretion.