Week 3 - Puberty Flashcards
What is puberty?
-experienced in adolescence
- helps to propel them in the direction of physical and sexual maturity
What bodily system is most important in puberty?
Endocrine system
What organ largely controls the endocrine system?
Hypothalmus
What is the hypothalmus?
-monitors and directs hunger, thirst, and sex drive
- checks and responds to different levels of hormones
What does the hypothalmus do if a hormone’s set point decreases?
sends out signal to produce MORE of the hormone
What does the hypothalmus do if a hormone’s set point increases?
sends out a different signal to CUT DOWN production of hormone
What is the master gland of the endocrine system?
Pituitary gland
What does the pituitary gland do?
controls other endocrine glands by sending out hormones that make them change the way they operate
What are the “gonads” in the endocrine system?
-ovaries in female
-testes in males
-major source of sex hormones (estrogen and androgen/testosterone)
What is the “HPG Axis”?
- made up of hypothalamus, pituitary, and gonads
- feedback loop
What hormone does the hypothalmus release in the HPG axis response?
gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)
What hormone does the pituitary produce in the HPG axis response?
Luitenizing hormone (LH)
Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)
What is the response when the LH and FSH reach the gonads in the HPG axis?
increase production of sex hormone
When there is enough sex hormones produced, we get a negative feedback loop response and it signals to the hypothalamus to inhibit releasing GnRH, which triggers pituitary to inhibit producing LH and FSH, which triggers gonads to reduce sex hormone production. True or false?
true
Do boys or girls levels of testosterone rise more before puberty?
girls