Hypothalamic-Pituitary relationships CIS Flashcards
Hypothalamus
what does it do?
what is physically connected to the hypothalamus?
important center in the brain that receives information from multiple centers
this releases hormones that are modulating the release of hormones from the anterior pituitary
also there are neurons within the hypothalamus that have fibers that project through the posterior pituitary.
Which pituitary is the pure endocrine gland?
Anterior Pituitary
another name for the anterior pituitary? Where is it coming from?
posterior?
adenohypophysis –> epithelial portion
neurohypophysis –> neural portion (because the fibers of the neurons are projecting to it)
What’s the connection between the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland? (2 names)
what’s within it? (2 things)
Hypophysial stalk (infundibulum)
within that is the median eminence and the portal system that is irrigating the anterior pituitary and bringing in releasing hormones from the hypothalamus
NOT THE POST.. that has a different system.
what is the optic chiasm and adenomas?
if certain cases of pituitary tumors (adenoma). if they’re big enough they can press into the optic chiasm and that, in some cases, are associated with loss of vision, headaches.
In the posterior pituitary, what are the two main cell populations that come from the hypothalamus and feed into it? what does each release usually?
we have the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and the Supraoptic nucleus (SON).
these two cell populations are going to be secreting the posterior pituitary hormones..
ADH (from supraoptic nucleus)
Oxytocin (from paraventricular nucleus)
What does the anterior pituitary secrete?
collection of endocrine cells that each secrete different things except for one that secretes both FSH and LH
ACTH TSH FSH LH GH Prolactin
How is the anterior pituitary connected to the hypothalamus?
what happens from hypothalamus to ant pity from this?
what’s important to note about the concentration of hormones?
hypothalamic-hypophyseal portal vessels.
hypothalamus is releasing stimulating or inhibitory hormones that goes from there to the portal vessels of the hypothalamic-hypophyseal portal system to the anterior pituitary.
the hypothalamic hormones do NOT appear in the systemic circulation in high concentrations!.. they’re less detectable in the circulation!
what is a primary endocrine disorder?
low or high levels of hormone due to a defect in a PERIPHERAL ENDOCRINE GLAND (outside of the brain)
what is a secondary endocrine disorder?
low or high levels of hormone due to defect in the PITUITARY GLAND
what is a tertiary endocrine disorder?
low or high levels of hormones due to defect in the HYPOTHALAMUS
what is a tertiary endocrine disorder?
low or high levels of hormones due to defect in the HYPOTHALAMUS
What cell type releases:
ACTH?
TSH?
FSH/LH?
GH?
Prolactin?
Corticotroph
Thyrotroph
Gonadotroph
Somatotroph
Lactotroph/Mammotroph
What’s to note about the cell types and their presence in the anterior pituitary?
exception?
they are all grouped together with each other.. ACTH cells with ACTH cells regionalized, somatotropin with somatotroph, etc..
the only exception is the gonadotrophs.. those are dispersed throughout the ant pity
why are TSH,FSH, and LH part of a family?
they are all dimeric proteins!
you cut the pituitary stalk.. serum hormone levels are higher.. what serum hormone is it?
why?
Prolactin
hypothalamus inhibits prolactin with dopamine (PIF), so if we cut the communication to the anterior pituitary, we would expect that to be elevated.
prolactin is repressed for the most part unless childbirth.
Where is oxytocin released?
What if we cut the hypothalamus stalk?
posterior pituitary.
if we cut it, you’ll have a transient decrease
main stimulus of ADH?
would it go down?
if we cut the hypothalamus stalk, what would happen to ACTH and aldosterone?
you’d think the hypothalamus, but it’s actually the RAAS pathway
no
normal, no change in aldosterone! or ADH -> predominate RAAS pathway is doing it.
someone with amenorrhea, headaches, sweating, joint pains. massive growth in hands and feet and protrusion of lower jaw. sudden weakness.
what does she have?
Acromegaly –> Growth hormones are hyper secreted… and it’s NOT gigantism because she’s older and because it’s extremities (growth plates closed)!
acromegaly happens in a longer time frame.
classic signs of acromegaly?
protrusion of lower jaw
larger hands and feet
(rings no longer fit.. stuff like that)
Why is there a loss in the visual field with someone with acromegaly?
hyper secretion of growth hormones are due to a pituitary adenoma. so mass effect can impact the optic chiasm and give a headache and lose vision
what is IGF-1?
what about this an acromegaly?
what does IGF-1 do normally?
product that is stimulated by growth hormones on the liver!
IGF-1 regulates the growth hormones access.
product of binding growth hormones to the liver.. so we would expect it to be elevated in patients with hyper growth hormone secretions.
NORMALLY if IGF-1 is elevated then GH is decreased levels!
what is one of the effects of growth hormone??
diabetogenic.. it’s going to produce some insulin resistance. so we have an elevated levels of glucose!
looking at acromegaly, what tests are we going to look at?
IGF-1
glucose suppression tests
MRI (once we nailed down over secretion of growth hormone we want to see the source)
What are the notable somatic changes of acromegaly?
What can somatic changes lead to?
metabolic functions seen in acromegaly?
soft tissue growth, cartilage growth, organomegaly (hepatomegaly, cardiomegaly)
cardiomegaly can have people with hypertension –> these two lead to cardiovascular disease problems.
hyperglycemia
the actions of GH are mediated by what?
Somatomedins (IGF-1 + IGF-2)
GH stimulates somatomedin C(insulin like growth factor 1) gene transcription and secretion by the liver!
Insulin levels are impacted by excessive GH, but not relaying the information.