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Introduction to the Endocrine System

Introduction to the Endocrine System. General Features and Definitions Types of Hormones Functions of the Endocrine System Components of the Endocrine System Chemical Structure of Hormones Homeostasis Endocrine vs . Nervous Systems Control of Endocrine Activity

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Introduction to the Endocrine System

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  1. Introduction to the Endocrine System General Features and Definitions Types of Hormones Functions of the Endocrine System Components of the Endocrine System Chemical Structure of Hormones Homeostasis Endocrine vs. Nervous Systems Control of Endocrine Activity Regulation of Hormone Secretion Transport and Distribution of Hormones Mechanism of Hormone Action Regulation of Hormone Receptors

  2. General Features of the Endocrine System • Endocrine glands are ductless • Endocrine glands have a rich supply of blood. • Hormones, produced by the endocrine glands are secreted into the bloodstream. • Hormones travel in the blood to target cells close by or far away from point of secretion. • Hormones receptors are specific binding sites on the target cell.

  3. Important Definitions:Endocrine System • Endocrine--endo means within. This is a system which controls body function through hormones. • Endocrine System is composed of a number of glands. • Glands are specialized tissues that produce a hormone or product.

  4. Important Definitions • What are hormones? Hormones are organic chemical messengers produced and secreted by endocrine cells into the bloodstream. Hormones regulate, integrate and control a wide range of physiologic functions. Silverthorn, Human Physiology, 3rd edition Figure 6-1&2

  5. Important Definitions • What are endocrine glands? Endocrine glands are ductless glands comprised of endocrine cells. This means that these glands do not have ducts that lead to the outside of the body. For example, sweat glands are NOT endocrine glands (they are instead exocrine glands) because sweat glands have ducts that lead to the outside surface of your skin (that’s how the sweat gets out). The fact that endocrine glands are ductless means that these glands secrete hormones directly into the blood stream (instead of to the outside of your body).

  6. Important Definitions • What are target cells? Target cells refer to cells that contain specific receptors (binding sites) for a particular hormone. Once a hormone binds to receptors on a target cell, a series of cellular events unfold that eventually impact gene expression and protein synthesis. Silverthorn, Human Physiology, 3rd edition Figure 6-1&2

  7. Important Definitions • What are hormone receptors? Hormone receptors are binding sites on the target cell (either on the surface or in the cytoplasm or nucleus of the target cell) that are activated only when specific hormones bind to them. If a hormone does not/cannot bind to it’s receptor, then no physiologic effect results. See next slide for a picture of a hormone bound to its receptor

  8. Growth hormone regulates cell growth by binding to growth hormone receptors on target cells.

  9. Steroid Hormones These are all derived from cholesterol. Examples: testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, mineralicoids, glucocorticoids. Steroids can cross the plasma membrane! Other kinds of lipids. Protein Hormones These are made of amino acids. Examples: Insulin, hypothalmus-signaling hormones. Protein hormones cannot cross the plasma membrane! Types of Hormones

  10. Chemical Structure of Hormones • Two general classes of hormones: water soluble and lipid soluble. • Water soluble (polar): proteins, glycoproteins, polypeptides, amino acid derivatives. • Lipid soluble (nonpolar): steroids, amino acid derivatives, fatty acids. • Different classes have different mechanisms of action, different modes of transport through the body, and differing stability in the circulation.

  11. Examples of Water Soluble Hormones • Proteins: growth hormone, prolactin, insulin • Glycoproteins: follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) , thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) • Polypeptides: arginine vasopressin, oxytocin, somatostatin • Amino acid derivatives:epinephrine, melatonin

  12. Examples of Lipid-Soluble Hormones • Steroids: estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, glucocorticoids, mineralocorticoids • Amino acid derivatives: Thyroid hormones (T3, T4) • Fatty acids: prostaglandins, thromboxanes

  13. Classes of Hormones • Steroids vs. Peptide Hormones Hormones fall into 2 general classes based on their molecular structure and synthesis. • All steroid hormones are made initially from the precursor (precursor = first step in biosynthetic pathway) cholesterol. See next slide for a diagram of the biosynthetic pathway of steroid hormones from cholesterol.

  14. Steroid Hormones • Steroid hormones are produced by the gonads and adrenal cortex. • Thyroid hormones are not steroids, but will be categorized with steroids for simplicity. • Steroid hormones are made from cholesterol in the smooth endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria of endocrine cells.

  15. Steroid Hormones • Steroid hormones cannot be stored in vesicles in the endocrine cells that produce them. As soon as steroid hormones are produced, they diffuse out of the endocrine cell and enter the bloodstream. • Steroid hormones are lipid soluble and their receptors are located inside their target cell.

  16. Peptide Hormones • Peptide hormones are comprised of chains on amino acids. • Like most proteins, peptide hormones are synthesized on ribosomes of the (rough) endoplasmic reticulum of endocrine cells. • Peptide hormones can be stored in vesicles in endocrine cells until they are needed at some later point.

  17. Peptide Hormones • Peptide hormones do not readily pass through cell membranes (lipid bilayers) and they are referred to as water soluble. • Receptors for peptide hormones are found on the cell surface of their target cells.

  18. Some General Actions of Hormones • Hormones cause cells to change. • Hormones can result in changes in gene expression (DNA-RNA-Protein). • Hormones can result in enzyme cascades which control our metabolism. • Hormones drive our reproductive systems.

  19. Some Specific Actions of Hormones • Fetal development and differentiation • Cell growth and cancer • Metabolism • Cardiovascular function • Renal function • Skeletal function • Reproductive function • Immune function • Central nervous system function

  20. Homeostasis • Definition: the maintenance of a constant environment (internal). • Parameters regulated: Temperature, osmolarity, pH, nutrient levels, hormone levels, etc. • Homeostasis is critical for cell viability and proper functioning. • Loss of homeostasis results in disease/death. • Homeostasis is maintained by feedback mechanisms (primarily negative feedback).

  21. pituitary LH testis Another Example: Regulation of LH Release in the Male • LH increases production of testosterone from the testis. • Testosterone feeds back upon the pituitary to inhibit LH release. (-) testosterone

  22. Another Example of Homeotasis: Regulation of Blood pH Levels Blood pH 7.5 7.3

  23. Feedback control • Negative feedback is most common: for example, LH from pituitary stimulates the testis to produce testosterone which in turn feeds back and inhibits LH secretion • Positive feedback is less common: examples include LH stimulation of estrogen which stimulates LH surge at ovulation

  24. Negative feedback effects of cortisol

  25. Substrate-hormone control • Glucose and insulin: as glucose increases it stimulates the pancreas to secrete insulin

  26. Feedback control of insulin by glucose concentrations

  27. Endocrine overview • Hormones are released by glands. • Hormones are released by feedback. • Our body works to carefully regulate hormone levels. • Negative feedback usually controls hormone secretion.

  28. Homeostasis and Controls • Successful compensation • Homeostasis reestablished • Failure to compensate • Pathophysiology • Illness • Death Figure 1-5: Homeostasis

  29. Feedback Loops Figure 6-26: Negative and positive feedback

  30. Negative Feedback Controls: Long & Short Loop Reflexes

  31. Endocrine Reflex Pathways: Overview

  32. Pathologies: Over or Under Production

  33. Pathologies: Due to Receptors

  34. Endocrine vs. Nervous System • Major communication systems in the body • Integrate stimuli and responses to changes in external and internal environment • Both are crucial to coordinated functions of highly differentiated cells, tissues and organs • Unlike the nervous system, the endocrine system is anatomically discontinuous.

  35. Nervous system • The nervous system exerts point-to-point control through nerves, similar to sending messages by conventional telephone. Nervous control is electrical in nature and fast.

  36. Functions of the Endocrine System • Contributes to and interacts with the control and integration functions of the nervous system • Important in the maintenance of homeostasis (set points), usually through negative feedback • Occasionally involved in processes with controlled movement away from set point (positive feedback)

  37. Why Two Systems? Comparison of Nervous and Endocrine Systems • The nervous system responds to changes in the environment quickly, the endocrine system more gradually. • The effects of nervous system action are short-lived, while the effects of endocrine changes persist longer. • The nervous signal (neurotransmitter) is highly localized (at the synapse), the endocrine signal (hormone secretion) is systemic. • The magnitude of nervous system effects are dependent upon the frequency of action potentials (frequency modulated); the magnitude of endocrine effects are dependent upon the amount of hormone released (amplitude modulated).

  38. Hormones travel via the bloodstream to target cells • The endocrine system broadcasts its hormonal messages to essentially all cells by secretion into blood and extracellular fluid. Like a radio broadcast, it requires a receiver to get the message - in the case of endocrine messages, cells must bear a receptor for the hormone being broadcast in order to respond.

  39. A cell is a target because is has a specific receptor for the hormone Most hormones circulate in blood, coming into contact with essentially all cells. However, a given hormone usually affects only a limited number of cells, which are called target cells. A target cell responds to a hormone because it bears receptors for the hormone.

  40. Principal functions of the endocrine system • Maintenance of the internal environment in the body (maintaining the optimum biochemical environment). • Integration and regulation of growth and development. • Control, maintenance and instigation of sexual reproduction, including gametogenesis, coitus, fertilization, fetal growth and development and nourishment of the newborn.

  41. Types of cell-to-cell signaling Classic endocrine hormones travel via bloodstream to target cells; neurohormones are released via synapses and travel via the bloostream; paracrine hormones act on adjacent cells and autocrine hormones are released and act on the cell that secreted them. Also, intracrine hormones act within the cell that produces them.

  42. Response vs. distance traveled • Endocrine action: the hormone is distributed in blood and binds to distant target cells.Paracrine action: the hormone acts locally by diffusing from its source to target cells in the neighborhood.Autocrine action: the hormone acts on the same cell that produced it.

  43. Major hormones and systems • Top down organization of endocrine system. • Hypothalamus produces releasing factors that stimulate production of anterior pituitary hormone which act on peripheral endocrine gland to stimulate release of third hormone • Specific examples to follow • Posterior pituitary hormones are synthesized in neuronal cell bodies in the hypothalamus and are released via synapses in posterior pituitary. • Oxytocin and antidiuretic hormone (ADH)

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