Essay on The Endocrine System: Billy's Case

The case is about the same with thyroid hormones. The hypothalamus is apart of the brain that produces thyroid-releasing hormones. This hormone pairs with what is known as our pituitary gland to begin the production of a thyroid-stimulating hormone. This pairing up acts on the thyroid in order to produce thyroid hormones, which travel through our bodies.

According to Shier, Butler & Lewis (2009) “other glands that produce hormones and thus are parts of the endocrine system include the pineal gland and the thymus gland”. Shier et al., 2009 argued the pineal gland, located deep between the cerebral hemispheres, secretes hormone melatonin that acts on certain brain regions that function as a biological clock. The changing levels of melatonin across 24 hours enable the body to know when day is and when is night.

The Adrenal glands secretes compounds including cortisone and adrenaline which helps you react to emergencies. This gland regulates your metabolic process in the cells and blood pressure. The Pineal gland produces melatonin, which helps regulate reproductive hormones. The Reproductive glands which includes the ovaries and testes, these glands influence blood circulation and determines mental vigor and sex drives. These glands all play major roles which work hand in hand with other body systems constantly.

A. The adrenal glands are in part controlled by the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system. Name the hormones involved in this regulation and the functions of each.

The adrenal gland is an organ involved in endocrine functions in the body. It is divided into adrenal cortex and adrenal medulla. The adrenal medulla is part of the sympathetic nervous system. The adrenal cortex is part of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal endocrine system. It consists of three layers which are:

Peptides hormones are usually large and hydrophilic charged, and cannot diffuse across a plasma membrane. Therefore the receptors they bind to are on the cell surface. When the peptide hormone binds to the receptor of the cells surface of the target cell it activates the receptor and as a result transmit a signal to the cellular interior. The purpose of this signal can be to turn on a protein kinase that phosphorylates (which is a modification of proteins in which an amino acid residue is phosphorylated) specific proteins and alter their activity however it could also release a second messenger into the cell this cell can be calcium, this amplifies the signal and changes many different cellular

gland to release ACTH. If the CRH gets low it prevents the pituitary from releasing ACTH,

The adrenal glands produce and secret important hormones that help control heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, and the way the body reacts to stress or danger. (National Cancer Institute, 2014)

Hypothalamus is taking control of both adrenal cortex and adrenal medulla. When the stress occurred, either emotional or physical trauma, prompts the hypothalamus to stimulate a part of the adrenal glands. The medulla and cortex secretes different hormones.

The pituitary gland is located in the brain at the base under the hypothalamus and is the size of a pea (BodyMaps). This gland is made up of three different sections, the anterior lobe, the intermediate lobe, and the posterior lobe (BodyMaps). Each one provides the body with various hormones which targets different internal organs. The anterior lobe sends out the following hormones: Adrenocorticotropic hormone, Thyroid-stimulation hormone, Folicile-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, Prolactin, and Growth hormone (McMillan and Starr 290). These hormones help with promote the release of other hormones as well as the assist with production of the hormones for the reproductive organs such as the ovaries and testes (McMillan and Starr

Although some endocrine glands function primarily as independent structures many endocrine glands are controlled by the hypothalamus (656). The pituitary gland links the endocrine system and nervous system together. The hypothalamus has direct control and indirect control of the release of several hormones. It has direct control over the release of hormones from the pituitary gland. It has indirect control over the release of hormones from several other endocrine organs. These organs consist of the thyroid gland, adrenal gland, liver and gonads (669). It is obvious that the hypothalamus and is regulatory hormones take part in the majority of our body’s processes.

2) Adrenal Glands - Two small glands sitting atop the kidneys. Internally, it consists of two components. The adrenal medulla is the internal portion of the adrenal gland, and produces “fight or flight” hormones (epinephrine and norepinephrine).

Starting in the head and neck area one will find the hypothalamus, pineal gland, parathyroid glands, pituitary gland, and thyroid gland. Some of the functions of the hypothalamus, which is part of the brain, are to regulate body temperature, thirst, sleep, mood, hunger, and the release of other hormones in the body. The function pineal gland is to control circadian and circannual rhythms, and the release of melatonin. The function of the parathyroid glands is to mainly to control calcium levels in the body. The functions of the pituitary gland secrete various hormones for various functions. The function of the thyroid gland is to increase the metabolic rate to speed digestion. Now that the endocrine glands of the head and neck area have been introduced, now the glands of the upper and lower torso will be introduced and overviewed. The endocrine gland located in the upper torso is the thymus gland, in the lower torso the adrenal glands, pancreas, and testis/ovaries can be found. The function of the thymus gland is to stimulate the production and maturation of T Lymphocytes. The functions of the adrenal glands are the raising of glucose levels, the reabsorption of sodium and the excretion of potassium, and the stimulating of reproductive organs that bring about sex characteristics. The function of pancreas is to regulate blood glucose levels. And finally the function of the testis/ovaries is to stimulate sex characteristics. All of these glands make up the Endocrine System.

Hormones are chemical substances that act as messengers in the body. They are produced in endocrine glands scattered throughout the body. Together all these glands form the endocrine system.

The endocrine system is coordinated by the pituitary gland, which responds to information from the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is a portion of the brain and is made of nervous tissue. It constantly checks the internal environment — that is, the conditions within the tissues, organs and systems of your body. If these conditions change, the hypothalamus responds.

The most important function of the hypothalamus is to link the nervous system and the endocrine system. It secretes hormones that act on the pituitary gland. The

Adrenal glands, located near the kidneys, secrete several hormones that are activated by the nervous system. These hormones dictate the body’s reaction to stressful situations. Each person secretes a different amount of hormones, therefore affecting behavior in stressful situations differently (Morris & Maisto, 2005).