We're talking about the pituitary gland and we just talked about the posterior

lobe, now we're gonna talk about the anterior lobe.

But I wanna put everything back in context again that the pituitary is sitting here
in the sella turcica, which is also diagrammed here in the illustration and
to highlight that vascularity.
And again, it's the master gland.
It's connected to the brain via the pituitary stalk.
And in this section,
we're gonna talk about the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland.
The anterior lobe of the pituitary gland is also known as the adenohypophysis.
And it is, again, regulated by the hypothalamus, two nuclei within
the hypothalamus called the arcuate and the periventricular.
I'm not gonna ask you to remember the difference between periventricular and
paraventricular.
So we're not gonna draw too fine a point on that.
But what I need you to understand is that these neurosecretory
cells of the arcuate and periventricular, again,
when these neurons fire, they're going to release neurotransmitters.
They're gonna release those neurotransmitters into a great,
big vascular complex in the stalk, in the pituitary stalk.
And this is called the hypophyseal portal system.
A portal system, which you were probably introduced to in the circulatory MOOC,
is where you go from capillary bed to capillary bed
before you go back into the larger circulation of the body.
So these neurons are going to secrete their products into a vascular bed here,
capillaries, that then go to the anterior pituitary.
The arcuate and periventricular nuclei of the hypothalamus regulate the anterior
pituitary by releasing factors that are called either releasing or
inhibiting factors.
So these guys make releasing factors or inhibiting factors that come down
through this capillary bed and then act on cells in the anterior pituitary.
The cells of the anterior pituitary then release tropic factors.
These are what go into circulation and go out to influence all
of the other endocrine organs throughout the body.
So the anterior lobe of the pituitary responds to factors
created here in the hypothalamus, and they're listed here.
So the anterior lobe responds to factors from the hypothalamus,
and these include corticotropin-releasing hormone,
gonadotropin-releasing hormone, growth hormone-releasing hormone,
prolactin-releasing hormone, thyrotropin-releasing hormone.
So they are very wordy, lots of words.
But the words tell you what they do.
So we'll take one for an example.
Corticotropin-releasing hormone acts from the hypothalamus,
acts on the anterior pituitary, which then will secrete
a hormone called adrenocorticotropic hormone.
And I'll talk more in detail about those
tropic hormones when I talk about the individual endocrine organs.
But then this hormone will then act on the adrenal gland.
So right now, when we're talking about the pituitary in this part of the MOOC,
we're
talking mostly about how the hypothalamus regulates the anterior pituitary, and
then the anterior pituitary regulates all the other organs.
There are also some inhibiting factors, and
these include growth hormone-inhibiting hormone, or
somatostatin, and prolactin-inhibiting hormone.
Which really, actually, they didn't know what it was in the beginning, but
then they figured out it was actually dopamine.
So it kinda has two names.
And here are peptides or hormones that are released from the anterior pituitary.
In the last slide,
we went over all of the stuff that the hypothalamus secretes into the pituitary.
These are the releasing factors that the pituitary then secretes
to all of the other organs.
So that's where we have adrenocorticotropic hormone,
follicle-stimulating hormone,
luteinizing hormone, growth hormone, prolactin.
We usually don't call it prolactin hormone, but we just call it prolactin.
Thyroid-stimulating hormone, and melanocyte-stimulating hormone.
These are the hormones that are gonna enter circulation and
act on your other endocrine organs to regulate their function.
So we've talked about the pituitary and hypothalamus, how
the hypothalamus regulates the pituitary, both anterior and posterior lobes, and
how the pituitary hormones then regulate the rest of your endocrine glands.
In summary, what is homeostasis?
Just to get back to that basic premise.
What areas of the hypothalamus control the anterior pituitary?
What nuclei or areas of the hypothalamus control the posterior pituitary?
What hormones are released from the posterior pituitary?
Be able to name the releasing factors secreted from the hypothalamus and
the inhibiting factors secreted from the hypothalamus.
And then what hormones are released from the anterior pituitary?
So this is kind of a big assessment.
There is a lot more in this one because the pituitary and
the hypothalamus are kinda the keys,
the gateways to understanding most of the endocrine system.
But once you have a grip on this, and it might take you a little studying, but
once you have a grip on these basic facts, then you'll be ready for the assessment.