Anatomy and Physiology Week 7

This week we started discussing hormones and glands. Hormones are like chemical messangers that are carried throughout our bloodstream and go to specific receptors in specific organs. The pineal gland is the producer of melatonin which is involved in our sleep/hibernation. The pituitary gland is also known as the hypophysis, and is considered the master gland of the endocrine system. The anterior portion of the pituitary produces prolactin, FSH, LH, TSH, ACTH, and GH. The posterior pituitary produces oxytocin and ADH. Which is involved in many things from our growth to our melanin production. There are two different kinds of hormones. Protein hormones travel easily throughout our blood and have rapid changes in target cells. They also rapidly degrade and exert their effect on target cells through second messanger systems. Steroid hormones must travel through our blood bound to a transport protein which is made in our liver. They are synthesized from cholestrol.