AAP Endocrine System 2 Flashcards
Where is the thyroid gland located?
- found on the ventral aspect of the first trachea
What do thyroid glands secrete?
- T3, T4 and calcitonin
- T3: tri-iodothyronine (contains 3 atoms of trace element iodine)
- T4: Thyroxin(e) contains 4 atoms of trace element iodine
What is the function of T3 and T4?
- regulates the metabolic rate of all the body’s cells (rate that body burns the nutrients to produce energy)
- allow the animal to generate heat and maintain a constant internal body temperature
- important for maintaining blood glucose level
- necessary for normal growth and development in young animals (CNS, muscles, bones)
What is the function of calcitonin?
- modulate the calcium levels in the blood (decreases calcium level
- prevents hypercalcemia (excessively high blood calcium level) by encouraging excess calcium to be stored in the bones
What is hypothyroidism and what are some symptoms associated with it?
- a condition of under-secretion of thyroid hormones
Symptoms: - stunted (dwarfism) growth in young animals
- in older animals, result in hair loss & slow heart rate
- may become fat and sluggish
- all due to reduced metabolic rate
What is hyperthyroidism and hat are some symptoms associated with it?
- over-secretion of thyroid hormones
- hyperactive, aggressive activities
- increased appetite
- fast heart rate
- all die to an increased metabolic rate
What is the parathyroid gland and where is it located?
- small, pale nodules in, on, or near the thyroid glands
- produces parathyroid hormone (PTH or parathormone)
What is the function of parathyroid gland (PTH)?
- PTH helps to maintain blood calcium levels (increases calcium levels)
- prevents hypocalcemia by promoting: kineys to retain calcium, intestine to absorb calcium from food and calcium to withdraw from bones
What is the pancreas and where is it located?
- an elongated organ
- mixed gland with both exocrine and endocrine functions
- endocrine component is organized into thousands of clumps of cells called pancreatic islets
- located in the curve of the duodenum
What hormones are produced in the pancreatic islets?
- beta cells (produces insulin)
- alpha cells (produces glucagon)
- delta cells (produce somatostatin
What is the purpose of insulin?
- produced in response to high blood glucose levels
- insulin decreases blood glucose by increasing the uptake of glucose into the body cells and used as energy
- storing excess glucose as glycogen in the liver (through a process called glycogenesis)
- lack of insulin leads to diabetes mellitus
- animal with this condition suffer from excessively high blood glucose; if left untreated, the condition progresses to a stage where the body breaks down protein and fat sources (sources of energy) which results in significant organ damage
What is the purpose of glucagon?
- produced in response to low blood glucose
- glucagon breaks down the glycogen stores in the liver to generate glucose via glycogenolysis
What is the purpose of somatostatin?
- inhibits the secretion of insulin and glucagon
- act on the GI tract to decrease the activity of the GI tract
Where is the adrenal gland located and what does it consist of?
- pair of adrenal gland located at the cranial ends of the kidneys
- consist of adrenal cortex and adrenal medulla
Which part of the adrenal gland is the cortex and medulla?
- adrenal cortex refers to the outer portion of the adrenal gland
- adrenal medulla refers to the inner portion of the adrenal gland
