Читать книгу The Slim Book of Health Pearls: Hormones, Nerves, and Stress - Sheldon Cohen M.D. FACP - Страница 7

It was not until 1886 that the dots were connected between Acromegaly and Gigantism (extreme enlargement of the face, body and extremities), and a tumor of the pituitary gland. This discovery proved that the pituitary was a member of the endocrine family. Not only a member, but subsequent information proved the role of the pituitary as the master gland, the conductor of the endocrine symphony orchestra, wielding control of all the other endocrine glands. No longer were the other endocrine glands considered autonomous; they worked under the leadership of the pituitary conductor.

The pituitary gland, located at the base of the brain and about the size of a pea, consists of an anterior lobe, intermediate lobe and posterior lobe, all involved in hormone production as follows:

•ADRENOCORTICOTROPHIC HORMONE (ACTH)

Stimulates the adrenal gland to liberate glucocorticoids essential for the stress response

•THYROID STIMULATING HORMONE (TSH)

Stimulates the thyroid gland to liberate thyroid hormones essential for metabolic regulation

•FOLLICLE STIMULATING HORMONE (FSH) AND LEUTENIZING HORMONE (LH)

Regulates testosterone production from the testes and estrogen production from the ovaries

•PROLACTIN (PRL)

Stimulates breast milk production and regulates menstrual periods

•GROWTH HORMONE (GH)

Signals certain liver cells to produce somatomedin-C, which promotes body growth in children

•ANTIDIURETIC HORMONE (ADH)

Stimulates the kidney to save water by preventing its excretion from the blood into the urine thus concentrating the urine

There you have it; hormones of the pituitary, the master gland, the conductor of the endocrine symphony. The pieces were falling into place.

Although they all work in harmony, for our purpose of understanding how stress works, ACTH and GLUCOCORTICOIDS as well as EPINEPHRINE will be the principle focus.

The endocrine story was not yet complete. The next advance was the discovery of the role of the hypothalamus.