Endrocrine System and Reproduction

Question 1

Where are the foundations of the endocrine system?

Answer 1

The hormones and glands.

Question 2

What are hormones?

Answer 2

Hormones are the body’s chemical messengers.

Question 3

What do hormones do?

Answer 3

Hormones transfer information and instructions from one set of cells to another.

Question 4

What does the endocrine system do?

Answer 4

The endocrine system is instrumental in regulating mood, growth and development, tissue function, and metabolism, as well as sexual functions and reproductive processes.

Question 5

What is the location/shape of the pineal gland?

Answer 5

Deep within the brain between the two hemispheres.

Question 6

What is the hormone/function of the pineal gland?

Answer 6

Its hormones regulate your sleep and wake cycles and seasonal cycles. More of it makes you tired.

Question 7

What is the location/shape of the thyroid gland?

Answer 7

Below the larynx, butterfly shaped.

Question 8

What is the hormone/function of the thyroid gland?

Answer 8

Thyroxine-controls the rate at which cells burn fuels from food to produce energy (metabolism).
As the level of thyroid hormones increases in the bloodstream, so does the speed of chemical reactions in the body.

Question 9

What is the location/shape of the parathyroid gland?

Answer 9

Four small, pea-sized glands on the back of your thyroid.

Question 10

What is the hormone/function of the parathyroid gland?

Answer 10

Release hormones that help control the amount of phosphate and calcium in your blood and bones.

Question 11

What is the location/shape of the adrenal gland?

Answer 11

A pair of cap shaped organs above each kidney.

Question 12

What is the hormone/function of the adrenal gland?

Answer 12

More than 30 different kinds of hormones are produced here.
Adrenaline (Epinephrine)- makes your heart beat faster, releases more energy stored by your liver, increases your sweating and makes you breathe faster. Also speeds up your metabolism. Its role is to increase blood pressure and heart rate when the body experiences stress so you can fight or flight.

Question 13

What is the location/shape of the pancreas gland?

Answer 13

Found behind the stomach.

Question 14

What is the hormone/function of the pancreas gland?

Answer 14

Insulin - Regulates glucose, metabolism in the blood and keeps the body supplied with fuel to produce and maintain stores of energy.
Too little insulin leads to high sugar levels in your blood and weakness. This is a disease known as diabetes.

Question 15

What is the location/shape of the pituitary (or master) gland?

Answer 15

Base of fore-brain, pea shaped.

Question 16

What is the hormone/function of the pituitary (or master) gland?

Answer 16

Growth hormone - regulates the growth of bone and tissue. Plays a role in the body’s handling of nutrients and minerals.
Endorphins - chemicals that act on the nervous system to reduce sensitivity to pain, and increase feelings of pleasure.
Gender differences hormones - signal the ovaries and testes (gonads) to make sex hormones.
Prolactin - Activates milk production in woman who are breastfeeding.
Oxytocin - triggers contractions of the uterus during labour.
Anti-diuretic hormone - controls amount of water reabsorbed by the kidney.

Question 17

Where are the ovaries?

Answer 17

Attached to the uterus (womb) by the fallopian tubes.

Question 18

What do ovaries do?

Answer 18

Estrogen - controls the development of female characteristics and the reproductive system.
This includes breast growth, accumulation of body fat around the hips and thighs, a growth spurt that occurs during puberty.
Progesterone - prepares the lining of the uterus for implantation of an ovum and readies the mammary glands to secrete milk.

Question 19

Where are the testes (testicles)?

Answer 19

In the scrotum.

Question 20

What to testicles do?

Answer 20

Testosterone - controls the development of male characteristics (facial hair…) and the reproductive system.
This includes enlargement of the penis, growth spurt during puberty, and other male secondary sex characteristics such as the deepening of the voice, facial hair, pubic hair, and an increase of muscle growth. It also supports the production of testosterone by the testes.

Question 21

What is the vagina?

Answer 21

The vagina is a muscular, hollow tube that extends from the vaginal opening to the uterus. The vagina has several functions: for sexual intercourse, as the pathway that a baby takes out of a woman’s body during childbirth, and as the route for the menstrual blood (the period) to leave the body from the uterus.

Question 22

What is the uterus?

Answer 22

The vagina connects with the uterus, or womb, at the cervix. An egg (if fertilized) will develop in this area.

Question 23

What are the ovaries?

Answer 23

The ovaries are two oval-shaped organs that lie to the upper right and left of the uterus. They produce, store, and release eggs into the fallopian tubes in the process called ovulation. They produce female sex hormones such as estrogen and progesterone.

Question 24

What are the fallopian tubes?

Answer 24

Connect the uterus to the ovaries. There are two fallopian tubes, each attached to a side of the uterus. When an egg pops out of an ovary, it enters the fallopian tube and travels down the narrow passageway toward the uterus.

Question 25

What does estrogen do?

Answer 25

Estrogen stimulates the development of secondary sex characteristics:
Breasts
Fat on thighs and hips
Pubic hair

Question 26

What do the ovaries produce?

Answer 26

Estrogen and progesterone.

Question 27

What is oogenesis?

Answer 27

Oogenesis is the process of producing eggs. This process starts prior to birth and occurs in the ovaries. It creates all the cells destined to be eggs before birth. Oogenesis is in suspended development (on pause) for many years from before birth until sexual maturity (puberty).

Question 28

What is ovulation?

Answer 28

When a baby girl is born, her ovaries contain hundreds of thousands of eggs, which remain inactive until puberty begins.
When an egg has matured (because of the hormone FSH) in an ovary, and the follicle surrounding it opens (because of the hormone LH), the release of the egg is called ovulation.
An egg is released once a month (until menopause: run out of eggs).

Question 29

What is FSH?

Answer 29

Follicle stimulating hormone. Matured the follicle (outer shell).

Question 30

What is LH?

Answer 30

Leutinizing hormone. Opens follicle and releases ovum.

Question 31

What happens during the menstrual cycle?

Answer 31

Estrogen levels rise (to make the lining of the uterus (endometrium) grow and thicken.
FSH makes a follicle (sack which contains an egg) mature in the ovary.
LH thins the follicle so it can open and release the egg (ovulation).
Progesterone levels rise and help prepare the uterine lining for pregnancy.

Question 32

What happens if the egg is fertilized?

Answer 32

The fertilized egg with attach itself to the thick uterine lining and begin to develop.

Question 33

What happens if the egg is not fertilized?

Answer 33

The egg dries up and leaves the body about 2 weeks later through the uterus. This process is called menstruation.
Blood and tissues from the thickened inner lining of the uterus are shed to form the menstrual flow, which in most girls lasts from 3 to 5 days.
Estrogen and progesterone levels drop.

Question 34

What must a woman do in order to get pregnant?

Answer 34

A woman must release an egg from one of her ovaries (ovulation).
The egg must go through a fallopian tube toward the uterus (womb).
A man’s sperm must join with (fertilize) the egg along the way.
The fertilized egg must attach to the inside of the uterus (implantation).

Question 35

What are the testicles and scrotum?

Answer 35

The testicles lie outside of the abdomen, suspended in the scrotum. The testicles produce sperm, and the male sex hormone testosterone.

Question 36

What is epididymis?

Answer 36

Stores the sperm for up to 2 weeks so they can mature.

Question 37

What is the Vas Deferens?

Answer 37

Part of the sperm transport system, it also acts as a storage site for most of the sperm produces until ejaculation.

Question 38

What is the seminal vesicles?

Answer 38

Purpose is to supply a viscous, alkaline secretion that forms a part of the seminal fluid (which is rich in nutrients to provide an energy source for sperm).
Semen = seminal fluids + sperm

Question 39

What is the prostate gland?

Answer 39

Adds about 35% of the seminal fluid, secreting a thin, milky-white alkaline fluid similar to that of the seminal vesicles. The fluid is to help neutralize the acidic fluids in the male urethra and the female vagina.

Question 40

What is an erection?

Answer 40

When a penis is sexually stimulated, since the arteries in it dilate (widen), this allows more blood to flow and fill the tissue inside. The filled arteries compress (squish) the veins so little blood can leave the penis.

Question 41

What is ejaculation?

Answer 41

The release of semen (sperm cells and fluid) from the penis.

Question 42

What are the male secondary sex characteristics?

Answer 42

Development of the genital organs. 
Production of sperm cells. 
Appearance of hair. 
Development of bones and muscles.
Change in voice. 
Mood changes. 
Acne. 
Increase in libido.

Question 43

What is spermatogenesis?

Answer 43

The process by which the testicles make sperm cells.
It’s controlled by FSH and LH.
LH triggers the testicles testosterone production.

Question 44

What does the sperm contain?

Answer 44

The sperm head contains the nucleus, which contains the paternal DNA for the future embryo. It also contains enzymes that will pierce the ovum (egg) for fertilization.