Organ Systems Lecture [39] Histology of the Endocrine System I by Dr.

Lopez April 24, 2014 11:00-11:50am Transcribed by Matt Asaro [1] - Histology of the Endocrine System [Dr. Lopez]- I want to apologize for being sick Im going to mute the mic if I have to start coughing but sorry in advance for being gross. Were going to start the endocrine system today so mostly this lecture is going to be the histology with some anatomy and development of endocrine glands and the next few lectures will be on physiology so this is kind of background information you need for the physiology lectures. [2] - Reading Assignments I know its late in the year but you do have textbooks so these are the assigned books in the class. I put up the assigned chapters you should read for the endocrine system [3] - Definitions So first some background info before we start talking about the endocrine glands. So glands in general are either individual cells or single cells that secrete something. Theyre going to be epithelium. Theyre modified epithelial cells that are modified for secretion. You can classify them several different ways. Um, one way is classifying them into either endocrine glands or exocrine glands and today were talking about endocrine glands. Exocrine glands are glands that have ducts so they are connected to a body surface via a duct. They secrete their product into the lumen of the duct and then that product goes to a body surface. [4] - Exocrine/ Endocrine Glands So sweat glands are examples of exocrine glands that are connected to the external surface of the body. You have glands in your GI tract that are connected to the surface of your GI tract. Endocrine lands dont have ducts so instead they secrete their product into the internal tissue, so thats connective tissue and from there theyre going to go into the circulation so either a blood vessel or a lymphatic vessel. [5] - Development of Glands Um all glands exocrine endocrine are going to come from epithelial cells. This top picture shows a flat surface of epithelium. As the gland develops youll see a down growth. Of the epithelium and its going to continue to proliferate down. That group of cells will form a duct so now theyll be an invagination of the epithelium going down. If you are making an exocrine gland the duct will remain so the secretory cells will secrete their product in the lumen of a duct and that duct is open onto the original surface. If youre making an endocrine gland the duct will disappear so the secretory process cant get t the surface and the secretions will get into the blood stream to be dispersed throughout the body. Sometimes there is a problem in development and the duct remains so there will be a cyst hear but normally the duct disappears and youre just left with a gland separate from that epithelial surface.

[6] - Signaling Mechanisms Um another thing to consider is different kinds of signaling mechanisms that cells use. At the top we have autocrine signaling that is when a cell secretes is signaling molecule and then that molecule acts directly on the original cell. So in this picture the cell is secreting this little red molecule here and then this molecule is acting on the same cell. Paracrine acts at a little further distance this cell will secrete its product and that will bind to cells nearby so its a very short distance away. For endocrine signaling the endocrine cells secrete some kind of signaling molecule that act on cells at afar distance from the original cell so you cant just have the signal diffuse from the tissue it has to enter the circulation to get at the cells from a distance away. So here the endocrine cells are secreting a product into the blood stream travel somewhere else in the body and then bind to cells at a distance. So endocrine thats at the bottom thats what were talking about today. [7] - Hormones The name for the signaling chemical secreted by endocrine cells is hormones. Hormones can either be protein or steroids, peptides, polypeptides modified amino acids, steroids are going to be modified cholesterol. Um, either way, protein and steroid hormones these are just chemical signaling molecules produced by endocrine glands. [8] Steroid hormones Since steroids are lipid based they can diffuse through plasma membranes of cells so once they get to their target cell they can diffuse directly into that cell without any kind of intermediary so here the steroid hormone can get into the cytoplasm of the target cell or even get into the nucleus and then bind with a receptor protein and then that hormone receptor oc0mplex can then bind to DNA to act as a transcription factor to affect the cell that its acting upon. Examples of steroid hormones are going to be things like sex hormones testosterone, estradiol, progesterone, things like that. Were also going to have sex hormones produced by things like the adrenal gland. [9] Protein hormones Protein hormones are not lipid based so they cant diffuse directly through a plasma membrane so they cant get into the cell without help. So here we have a protein hormone thats going to bind to a receptor protein in the cell membrane of the target cell and then that complex will activate a secondary messenger that was already inside the cytoplasm so instead of going into the cell it binds to a report and that Is going to activate a messenger inside the cell which can then activate the messenger of that cell which can then activate the function of that target cell. So anything thats not a steroid hormone will be a protein hormone so here we have a few examples. Insulin from the pancreas, FSH is acting on the testes or the ovaries, thyroxin is a thyroid hormone [10] - Signal transduction is mediated by second messenger

You have tons of protein hormones and so they can use various kinds of secondary messengers inside the cell so here is just some examples they all depend on the specific protein were talking about so in nay case you have the protein outside the cell it will bind to a receptor in the cell membrane and that will cause the activation f a messenger thats inside the cell already. [11] - Types of Capillaries New topic, go back and review different kinds of capillaries. On the left here we have a continuous capillary so remember the capillaries will have endothelial cells with a basement membrane on the outside. These are your standard capillaries. On the right we have fenestrated these are more permeable than continuous because it has pores in the endothelial cell. So molecules can diffuse easily through those pores so theyre very permeable youll find these in your endocrine organs. So remember the endocrine glands have to secrete their hormones into the circulation and in order to do this you have to have a lot of organs nearby so endocrine glands will be highly vascularized and the capillaries in the area will tend to be fenestrated capillaries. [12] Fenestrate Capillaries are associated with endocrine glands IMAGE This is a drawing of a fenestrated capillary endothelial cell you can see there are little pores but youll have a continuous basal lamina here. [13] - True (Discrete) Endocrine Glands So heres a list of endocrine glands. Today were going to be talking about the first five of them. So the pituitary gland, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal glands which have two parts, and pineal gland. The ovaries and testes are going to save into the reproductive unit but well mention some hormones tha act on them today And the endocrine pancreas you should have already learned about them in the GI system. I have these described as true endocrine glands because there are other tissues and cells and organs throughout the body that have endocrine functions that arent characterized as part of the endocrine system. The kidneys have endocrine function because they secrete renin, the heart has some endocrine function, adipose tissue, but all of those are going to be part of other organs that do other things. These are the glands that are just endocrine glands. And you also have in other organs individual endocrine cells and so there will be for example in the GI tract enteroendocrine cells but they are a part of the GI system theyre not their own endocrine glands. [15] - Pituitary Gland SO first up, the pituitary gland. This is a midline image through someones head here is the pituitary its in the midline in the hypophyseal or pituitary fossa of the sphenoid bone. It has two parts that you can distinguish on this MRI there is a more anterior part and a more posterior part. Its physically connected to the hypothalamus. [16] Image

Again, this is the same orientation this is the anterior and posterior die. The hypo is up here and the pituitary is connected to it you can see a drawing of all the diff organs and tissues that the pituitary acts on so a common pattern is that the hypothalamus releases hormones up here that act on the anterior part of the pituitary that then releases its own hormones acting on all of these organs acting on other tissues. Theres then a feedback loop that regulates these hormones. Most of these hormones released by the hypothalamus will be called something releasing hormone because that hormone will tell cells in the anterior pituitary to release that hormone. You also have hormones that are made in the hypothalamus that get released outside of the posterior pituitary directly so it can go hypothalamus, anterior pituitary, something else, or hypothalamus traveling down to exit the posterior pituitary then going to a different organ. [17] Roles of the pituitary But this is a nice review slide after we talk about this you can look at this slide. [18] - Development of the Pituitary Gland The pituitary has an interesting development. This I a picture of an early embryo, pink is he developing brain and spinal cord and blue is the ectoderm so this area here is the oral ectoderm so the early oral cavity so were going to look at this box here so the base of the brain the diencephalon is right up against the root of the oral cavity so thats what this is. The downgrowth from the floor of the diencephalon and an up growth from the roof of the oral ectoderm. This up growth here is called Rathkes pouch. Keep in mind up here this will be nervous tissue and down here will be epithelial cells. So down here theyre going to continue to grow down and then grow up and eventually the Rathkes pouch will separate from the rest of the oral ectoderm and surround the downgrowth from the diencephalon so you end up with two pieces. The neurohypophysis is the part that grew down from the brain and the adenohypophysis is the part hat grew up from the oral ectoderm and so thats in pink and blue. Theyre both from diff tissues embryologically and theyre still diff tissues in the adult they secrete diff hormones they have different functions. [19] Image So heres a pic of the hypo and pituitary. The hypo is up here, optic chiasm, this is the anterior side this is the posterior side. Lets talk about grouping by embryology. The neurohypophysis is the part made from nervous tissue. This is the infundibulum and the pars nervosa, thats the part towards the back. These are all continuous theyre made up of neurons and axons extending down in the infundibulum and pars nervosa so its all nervous tissue and all continuous axons. Um, so that was neurohypophysis and the rest of pituitary is the adenohypophysis and thats going to be the pars distalis so thats the more rounded anterior side the pars tuberalis which is the part that wraps around the infundibulum so thats the red part here. And the pars intermedia thats the part in the middle thats closest to the pars nervosa. You can also group it by anatomy because you can see theres two lobes. T he anterior lobe here is pars distalis. That is adenohypophysis epithelial cells. Posterior lobe is the mostly pars nervosa so that would be the

neurohypophysis and then the stalk the par thats hanging off the brain is infundibulum with the pars tuberalis behind it. If you group it by physiology thats what were origin to talk about it in a second. [21] - Histology of the Pituitary Gland So someone on my computer this image has flipped upside down and I forgot to change it so I am sorry about that this isnt the best picture I have a better one next slide so I hope on your computer it is flipped right side up. This lighter area is nervous tissue so thats the pars distalis Im sorry pars nervosa Im getting confused by the words. Over here the pinker purple part is going to be epithelial tissue so thats the pars distalis. [22] Image SO this is better this is the more anatomical position. The anterior part here thats the darker in color is the adenohypophysis it has lots of cells that are pretty well stained so thats why its stained darker so this is pars distalis, thats number one. The posterior part here is nervous tissue thats pars nervosa the part in between here is the pars intermedia is the infundibulum. Here you can see the infundibulum is continuous with the pars nervosa its just the same number of axons. [23] - Adenohypophysis So first were talking about the pars distalis. Its epithelia because its derived from oral ectoderm. The cells are in these groups of clumps. [24] - [Image] So if you zoom in you can see that these cells are stained differently. There are cells stained very basophilic so theyre called basophils cells. Cells that are stained very esophilic are eosinophils. And cells that arent stained well at all those are Chromophobes. If they do have a stain they are called chromophils and the chromophils will either be basophils or eosinophils depending on how they stain. And the eosinophils and basophils will secrete different hormones. [25]- Chromophils They are either going to be the eosinophils or the basophils. Each cell can either secrete one or two. Of all the chromophils there are six chromosomes that can be secreted. Follicle Stimulating hormone (FSH) luteinizing hormone (LH), thyroidstimulating hormone is TSH, Growth hormone (GH), Prolactin (PRL), and adrenocorticotropin or just corticotropin is ACTH. If you look at a lot of these words a lot of them have tropin in them. Trophin, tropin same thing. [26] - Hormones are produced by 5 different cell types So the eosinophils each will either produce growth hormone or prolactin. And each basophil will either secrete TSH, LH, or FSH or ACTH. All of these hormones will be secreted based on um releasing hormones from the hypothalamus so the hypothalamus will secrete a releasing hormone acting on a cell and that hormone will act on some other tissue in the body, You cant tell which cell will secrete which

hormone using a light microscope if you do more sophisticated techniques you can figure it out but if you use a light microscope or general histologically staining techniques you can just see eosinophil or basophil and you cant narrow it down any further. [27] Somatotropes So somatotropes are the cells that secrete growth hormone and they are the majority of the chromophils. SO like I said there is a releasing hormone secreted by the hypothalamus so the names are pretty intuitive and thats gonna stimulate the cell to produce growth hormone and growth hormone acts throughout the body to increase metabolic rates. And it can stimulate the liver to produce IGF1, which promotes bone growth. [28] - Lactotropes or mammotropes Lactotropes or mammotropes secrete prolactin um prolactin is involve din milk production so during pregnancy the hormones in place for the pregnancy will inhibit secretion of prolactin but then once the baby is born those hormone levels drop so prolactin is no longer inhibited so milk secretion is activated and thats lactation. Oh one more thing this prolactin is not only stimulated by hormonal control its also stimulated by babies breast feeding or suckling so that is an additional stimulus for prolactin. [29] - Thyrotropes Thyrotropes secrete thyrotropin, which is also called thyroid-stimulating hormone which I like because TSH stands for that and that is going to act on the thyroid to tell the thyroid to secrete its hormones. [30] Gonadotropes Gonadotropes are going to be cells that secrete FSH or LH. Those hormones will act on the ovaries and the testes. Well talk about that more in the reproductive system lectures but the follicles here and the follicle in the word follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing refer to things in the ovaries but males in the testes also refer to these. Oh and even thought these are called FSH and LH they are under the control of gonadotropin releasing hormone because these two together are from gonadotropes. [31] Corticotropes Corticotropes secrete ACTH and this hormone is going to act on the cortex of the adrenal gland so thats why its adrenocortico and well talk about the adreno cortex later. [32] Summary This is just a summary table here of the hormones secreted by the chromophils of the pituitary so look at that whenever you want. [33]- Chromophobes

Chromophobes are the third type of cell in the anterior pituitary they are the ones that dont stain very well um no ones is really sure what they are the leading theory is that they are chromophils that have secreted their hormones already so there is nothing left in the cytoplasm to stain strongly so its probably this but they could also be stem cells that could mature into the chromophils. [34] - Adenohypophysis The pars intermedia is the part in the middle thats also part of the adenohypophysis it doesnt have that big of a hormone activity so it doesnt have a clear function but one thing to notice are these cysts those are remnants of Rathkes pouch grew up from the oral ectoderm and we have remnants of the hollowness remaining here. The pars tuberalis is that part that wraps around the infundibulum again there is no clear function for these cells. So that was the adenohypophysis the neuro epithelial cells. [36] - The neurohypophysis So in this picture here is the hypothalamus we have neurons with their cell bodies in the hypo and their axons extending down through the infundibulum through the pars nervosa theyre unmyelinated and the neurons will make two hormones vasopressin and oxytocin and those hormones are carried own the axons and will be released down the pars nervosa into the blood here. Oxytocin are also involved in lactation and lactation is involved in making the milk and oxytocin is involved in muscle contraction. Smooth muscle contraction of the uterus and myoepithelial contraction to releases milk from the breasts. [37] - Neurohypophyseal hormones Vasopressin is also called antidiuretic hormone so that tells you that it has an antidiuretic effect. It increases your absorption of water in your kidneys so its involved in making concentrated urine and lowering the volume of urine. So its an anti diuretic. [38] Neurohypophysis- pars nervosa The pars nervosa is where those axons ended so its technically not endocrine cause it doesnt make those hormones its just storing and releasing the hormones themselves were made up here in the hypothalamus. They were just traveling down to be released here from the pars nervosa. Youre not going to see any cell bodies the on nuclei you see are from glial cells not form the actual neurons themselves so the little black dots will be the nuclei from pituicytes thats the name of glial cell sin this region. [39] - Neurosecretory Granules You might also see blue or grayish areas called Herring bodies these are accumulations of the hormones that occur in the neuron. So this is the end of an axon here is a hormone accumulation so when its stained properly it looks blue and youd call it a haring body.

[40] - Blood supply The blood supply is interesting because theres a portal system so two capillary beds connected by veins. The posterior pituitary the pars nervosa the hormones are made up here in the hypothalamus are released down into this capillary bed in the pars nervosa. For the pars distalis the anterior pituitary there is a portal system. The releasing hormones are made in the hypothalamus that are released into this primary capillary bed they trail down through portal veins in the secondary capillary bed and then are released into the general circulation Im sorry then the hormones made here are released into the general circulation. The reason this happens is because hormones made in the hypothalamus are released into the blood here but you dont want them to be dispersed through out the entire body you want them to act on the anterior pituitary immediately to activate those cells and then the cells of the anterior pituitary will release their hormones into the secondary bed which will allow them to circulate throughout the body to let them go to whatever organs they need to. [41-42] - Thyroid gland So next organ thyroid gland. Your thyroid is right in front of your larynx and trachea. IT has two lobes that are connected in the midline. It develops from the epithelium that will be on your tongue so here we go heres your tongue. [43] - Development of the thyroid gland. So heres your tongue you have anterior part of your tongue, base of your tongue, between them in the midline is the foramen cecum thats the remnant of where your thyroid descended when you were an embryo. [44] Epithelial cells SO in this picture heres an embryo this is where the brain is. Here is where he tongue is. The epithelial on top of the developing tongue will invaginate and grow down that called the thyroglossal duct and the thyroid gland will be at the base of the thyroglossal duct and at the base of the tongue here its gonna travel down in front of the hyoid and larynx and then settle in in front of the trachea so normally that thyroglossal duct will close down behind it and if that doesnt close off properly you can have thyroglossal cysts develop in the midline of your neck. [45] The thyroid follicle The basic unit of the thyroid is the follicle, so thats going to be a spherical arrangement of cells with the secretory product inside the sphere. So this will be a follicle here so the outline will be follicular cells the hormones that they make will be released into the lumen of that follicle so all of this is stored thyroid hormone called colloid. So thats inside the thyroid follicle. Heres what it looks like in real life, so low magnification and high magnification. [46]- Follicular Cells Here are the follicular cells, they change shape based on how active they are. So if theyre not active theyll be squamous if theyre very active theyll be columnar they

are basophilic and they produce T3 and T4 those are the thyroid hormones that act throughout your body to increase metabolic rates. [47] - Synthesis of thyroid hormones So the physiology lectures will have a lot more information on thyroid hormone synthesis and physiology but just know that now these hormones are based on tyrosine ad the numbers indicate how many iodine molecules are attached. So T3 will have 3 and T4 will have 4. T3 is the more active version of the hormone. Thyroid hormone comes in two varieties. You need two iodine in you body to make them properly. [49] - Release of thyroid hormones I think this image is good to illustrate what happens. So this is one follicular cell. Inside the follicular, this is the colloid and this is the blood over here. So the follicular cell gets what it needs from the blood, so its getting iodide ions from the blood. It makes a storage molecule called thyroglobulin and it secretes those things into the follicle lumen. In the lumen, the thyroglobulin makes T3 and T4 on itself and its all stored in the lumen of the follicle till you need it. If you do need increased levels in your body then this whole storage system the thyroglobulin will be endocytosed back into the cell and T3 T4 will be snipped off of it and put back into the bloodstream but that youll get in the physiology lectures. [50] - Physiological effects of T3 and T4 So like I said these act to increase cellular metabolism throughout your body. And T3 is more biologically active than T4. Besides the cells lining the follicles here, you have cells that are next to the follicles that are next to eh follicles called parafollicular cells these come rom a different embryological origin so instead of coming from the thyroglossal duct they are going to come from the fourth pharyngeal pouch. [51] - Parafollicular Cells (Clear cells or C cells) So this is a picture of an embryo where here are the pharyngeal arches, here would be arch 1 arch 2, this would be pouch 1, pouch 2, pouch 3 and pouch 4. So coming from pharyngeal pouch 4 you have the ultimobranchial body which will then the cells will migrate from pouch 4 into the thyroid land where they become parafollicular cells also called C cells. They are a little bit larger than the follicular cells. These are C cells here that are larger and paler in color. Parafollicular C, Clear cells they all meant he same thing. They are not involved in thyroid hormone secretion so no T3 or T4, they produce calcitonin. SO calcitonin is involve din calcium level balance so if your blood calcium levels are too high the C cells will secrete calcitonin. They act on the osteoclasts and turn off the osteoclasts so if they osteoclasts are relatively inactive, the osteoblasts are still active, then more calcium will be deposited into your bones. So when calcitonin is released, the effect is a decrease in your blood calcium. So lets take a ten minute break and resume five minutes before five.