ANAT chapter 16: The Endocrine system Flashcards
The Endocrine system
- Secretes various hormones
Hormones: long-distance chemical messengers that cause a change in metabolic activity of a cell - Effects are usually long-lasting
- What is meant by “long-distance?” Enter bloodstream and travel to different part of the body. Do not bind to the same cell they are produced and released from
- Endocrine glands secrete hormones directly to blood
- Glands highly vascularized
Hormones: Chemical structure
- Chemical structure determines longevity, transport in blood, & receptivity by cell
Two major classification of hormones:
1) Amino acid-based hormones
* Molecular size variesamino acid derivatives, peptides, proteins
* Water-soluble (blood is mostly water)circulate without carrier
2) Steroid hormones
* Synthesized from cholesterol
* Gonadal hormones (testosterone, estrogen) and adrenocortical hormones are only steroid hormones in body
* Lipid-soluble–>circulate with carrier
Hormone actions
- Hormones can only affect target cells with appropriate receptors
Different cell types can have different receptors that can bind the same hormone
what are the major changes produced by hormone binding:
1) Altering plasma membrane permeability or membrane potential
2) Stimulates synthesis of enzymes/proteins inside cell
3) Activates/deactivates enzymes
4) Induces secretory activity
5) Stimulates mitosis
Two mechanisms of hormone action:
- second messenger system
- Intracellular system
Second messenger systems
- use receptors found on surface of plasma membrane
- What class of hormone uses this action? Amino based hormones
- Receptors are usually coupled to regulatory G-proteins
- G-protein activates intracellular second messenger–>causes response in cell
What is the effector enzyme in this mechanism? What is the second messenger? Cyclic AMP
This system is extremely efficient!!
Intracellular systems
- Hormone enters cell, then binds to intracellular receptors
- Receptor-hormone complex binds specific regions of DNA–>DNA transcription occurs
- Effect: certain proteins produced in larger numbers
Hormone release
Stimulating hormone release
* Hormone synthesis & release is mostly controlled by negative feedback mechs (increase hormone production and then released)
* Stimulus mechanisms:
1) Humoral stimuli:changing blood levels of critical ions & nutrients
-Ex: monitoring Ca2+ levels by parathyroid gland
2) Neural stimuli: nerve fibers stimulate hormone release
-Infrequent
-Ex: norepinephrine & epinephrine release by sympathetic nervous system
3) Hormonal stimuli: hormone released in response to other hormones
-Ex: hypothalamic hormones stimulate or inhibit anterior pituitary gland
hormone concentration in blood depends on
- How fast it is being released by endocrine organ
- How fast it is broken down
* Most hormones removed by kidneys and/or liver
* Water-soluble hormones have shortest half-life
Cellular response
- Target cells only respond to a hormone if it has a specific receptor protein for that hormone
- One hormone may only be able to interact with a few cell types, while another hormone may be able to interact with every cell type
Activation of cell depends on:
1) Blood levels of hormone
2) Number of receptors for specific hormone on/in cell
3) Affinity of receptor to the hormone
Cellular response
- amount of hormone can change number of receptors on/in target cell
- up regulation
- down regulation
up regulation
increase receptor number in response to low hormone levels (hormone will bind to at least one receptor) -more sensitive to hormones
Down regulation
decrease receptor number in response to high hormone levels. - less likely the cell becomes overstimulated -less sensitive to large amounts of hormone
Hormone interactions at Target cells
2+ hormones binding on the same target cell at the same time may result in:
1)Permissiveness: one hormone cannot have full effect without binding of a second specific hormone
* Lack of the second hormone may delay or completely inhibit effects of first
2) Synergism: 2+ hormones with similar effects bind target cell–> amplification occurs (making it more severe or enhancing it)
3) Antagonism:one hormone opposes the effect of another
* Hormones can compete for the same receptor
* Hormones act through different metabolic pathways
* Hormones can down-regulate receptor of another hormone