Pituitary Hormones and Their Control by the Hypothalamus
Part 1
Pituitary gland
Sella turcica
Hypophysial stalk
Pars intermedia
Adenohyphysis
Neurohypophysis
6 Hormones secreted by the
adenohypophysis:
1. Growth hormone
2. Adrenocorticotropin
(corticotropin)
3. Thyroid-stimulating
hormone (thyrotropin)
(Thyroxine &
Triiodothyronine)
4. Prolactin
5. Gonadotropic hormones:
a. FSH
b. LH
2 Hormones secreted by the
neurohypohysis:
1. Antidiuretic hormone
2. Oxytocin
5 Cell types of the Adenohypohysis
Cell
1. Somatotropes (30-40%)
- Acidophils
2. Corticotropes (20%)
3. Thyrotropes
- Aka “hypophysis”
- Lies in the sella turcica
- Has 2 divisions
- Bony cavity at the base of the brain
- Connects pituitary to hypothalamus
- Avascular zone between anterior and posterior pituitary
- Larger & more functional in lower animals
- Aka anterior pituitary
- Origin: Rathke’s pouch (embryonic invagination of the pharyngeal
epithelium)
- Cells epithelioid in nature
- Secrete 6 important peptide hormones which play major roles in control
of metabolic function
- Aka posterior pituitary
- Origin: neural tissue outgrowth from the hypothalamus
- Has a large number of glial-type cells
- Secrete 2 important peptide hormones
- Promotes growth of entire body
- Controls secretion of some of the adrenocortical hormones
- Controls rate of secretion of thyroxine and triiodothyronine by the
thyroid
- Control rates of most intracellular chemical rxns
- Mammary gland development and milk production
- Growth of ovaries and testes and their hormonal and reproductive
activities
- Aka vasopressin
- Controls rate of water excretion into urine
- Controls concentration of water in the body fluids
- Express milk from mammary glands during suckling
- Helps in delivery of baby at the end of gestation
Hormone Physiological Action
GH - Body growth
- Secretion of IGF-1
- Lipolysis
- Inhibits action of insulin on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism
ACTH - Production of glucocorticoids and androgens by the adrenal
cortex
- Maintains size of zona fasciculate and zona reticularis of cortex
TSH - Production of thyroid hormones
 - Maintains size of follicular cells
4. Gonadotropes FSH, LH - Development of ovarian follicles
- Regulation of spermatogenesis
- Ovulation & formation of corpus luteum in the ovary
- Production of estrogen & progesterone by the ovary
- Testosterone production by testes
5. Lactotropes PRL - Milk secretion and production

Pituitary tumors - Secrete large quantity of human growth hormone (hGH)

Magnocellular neurons
Hypothalamus
Median eminence
Tuber cinereum
Hypothalamic releasing &
hypothalamic inhibitory
hormones
Hypothalamic-hypohysial portal
vessels
Major hypothalamic releasing and inhibitory hormones
Hormone
1. Thyrotropin releasing
hormone (TRH)
2. Gonadotropin releasing
hormone (GnRH)
3. Corticotropin releasing
hormone (CRH)
4. Growth hormone
releasing hormone
(GHRH)
5. Growth hormone
inhibitory hormone
(somatostatin)
6. Prolactin-inhibiting
hormone (PIH)
Growth Hormone
Growth hormone metabolic
effects
- Acidophilic tumors
- Cell bodies that secrete the posterior pituitary hormones
- Located in the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei of the
hypothalamus
- Controls pituitary secretion
- Collecting center for information concerning the internal well-being of
the body
- Lowermost portion of the hypothalamus
- Connects inferiorly with the pituitary stalk
- Extension of the hypothalamic tissue into the pituitary stalk
- Control secretion by the anterior pituitary
- Secreted by neurons in the hypothalamus
o These neurons send nerve fibers into the median eminence and
tuber cinereum
- Secreted into the median eminence
- Minute blood vessels that conduct hormones from hypothalamus to
hypophysis
Primary action on adenohypohysis
- Stimulates secretion of TSH from thyrotropes
- Stimulates secretion of FSH & LH from gonadotropes
- Stimulates secretion of ACTH by corticotropes
- Stimulates secretion of growth hormone by somatoropes
- Inhibits secretion of growth hormone by somatotropes
- Inhibits synthesis and secretion of prolactin by lactotropes
- Aka somatoropic hormone/ somatotropin
- 191 AAs in a sngle chain
- Enhances almost all facets of AA uptake and protein synthesis and
reduces breakdown of proteins
1. Enhances body protein
2. Uses up fat stores
3. Conserves carbohydrates
Effects that could lead to
enhanced body protein
Free fatty acids (FFAs)
Fat
Acetyl-CoA
Acetoacetic acid
Fatty liver
Insulin
GH effects on carbohydrate
metabolism (growth hormone-
induced “insulin resistance”)
Insulin & Carbohydrates
Effects of GH on bone
2 principal mechanisms of bone
growth
Epiphyseal cartilage
Osteoblasts
Osteoclasts
Somatomedins
Somatomedin C
Pygmies of Africa
States of nutrition known to
stimulate GH secretion
- Enhancement of AA transport through the cell membrane  increases
concentration of AA in the cell
- Increased RNA translation  greater protein synthesis by ribosomes
- Increased DNA transcription  increased RNA quantity
o Most important function of GH
- Decreased catabolism of proteins and AAs due to fatty acid (FA)
mobilization
- Supply most of the energy for the body’s cells
- Potent “protein sparer”
- Preferred energy source compared to protein and carbohydrates
- Formed from FFAs by GH
- Formed by liver and released into body fluids when fat mobilization
from adipose tissues becomes so great
- Causes ketosis
- Caused by excessive mobilization of fat from adipose tissue
- Inhibits gluconeogenesis by liver
- Stimulates uptake and utilization of glucose in skeletal muscle and
adipose tissue
- Enhances transport of some AAs into the cell
- Decreased glucose uptake
- Increased gluconeogenesis
- Increased insulin secretion
- Necessary for GH to be effective
1. Deposition of proteins
2. Increased rate of cell reproduction
3. Conversion of chondrocytes to osteogenic cells
1. Lengthening of bones at the epiphyseal cartilage
2. Stimulation of osteoblasts
- Where epiphyses at the ends of the bone are separated from the shaft
- Progressively used up
- Deposit new bone on the surfaces of older bone
- Remove old bone
- Formed by the liver in response to growth hormone
- Potent in increasing all aspects of bone growth
- Similar to the effects of insulin on growth and is therefore aka insulin-
like growth factor (IGFs)
- Most important somatomedin
- Aka IGF-1
- Accounts for most of the growth effects of GH
- Released slowly from the blood (half-time: 20 hrs) which prolongs
growth-promoting effects of GH secretion
- Congenital inability to synthesize significant amounts of somatomedin C
- Accounts for the small stature of these people
1. Starvation/ fasting (especially with severe protein deficiency)
2. Hypoglycemia (more potent stimulator for GH secretion)
3. Exercise, Excitement, Trauma
4. Ghrelin
5. Deep sleep (Stage II and IV)
6. Decreased blood glucose and FFAs
 7. Increased blood AAs (Arginine)
8. GHRH
Ghrelin - Hormone secreted by the stomach before meals
Protein deficiency - Must be corrected before GH concentration will return to normal
Ventromedial nucleus - Part of the hypothalamus that
o Causes secretion of GHRH
o Is sensitive to blood glucose concentration
o Causes satiety in hyperglycemic states
o Causes hunger in hypoglycemic states
GHRH - Stimulates GH secretion by attaching to specfc cell receptors on the
outer surfaces of the GH cells in the pituitary gland
Abnormalities of GH Secretion
Panhypopituitarism - Decreased secretion of all anterior pituitary hormones
- Often due to a pituitary tumor that destroys the pituitary gland
- In the adult, there are 3 common abnormalities:
o Craniopharyngiomas
o Chromophobe tumors
o Thrombosis of pituitary blood vessels
Dwarfism - Generalized deficiency of anterior pituitary secretion
- All physical parts of the body develop in appropriate proportion to one
another but rate of development is decreased
Craniopharyngiomas & - May compress the hypophysis until functioning anterior pituitary cells
chromophobe tumors are destroyed
Thrombosis of pituitary - Occurs when new mother develops circulatory shock after birth of her
blood vessels baby
Giantism - APG becomes excessively active
- Large quantities of GH are produced
- Giants ordinarily have hyperglycemia
Acromegaly - Bones become thicker
- Soft tissues can continue to grow
- Kyphosis: hunched back due to changes in the vertebrae
Posterior Pituitary Gland
Pituicytes - Glial –like cells which comprise the neurohypophysis
- Do not secrete hormones
- Supporting structures for large number of terminal nerve fibers and
terminal nerve endings from nerve tracts of the hypothalamus
Supraoptic and paraventricular - Nuclei originate in the hypothalamus
tracts - Pass to the neurohypohysis via the hypophyseal/ pituitary stalk
Neurophysins - Carrier proteins that combine with hormones from supraoptic and
paraventricular nuclei
ADH - Decreased excretion of water by the kidneys
- Increased permeability of collecting ducts and tubules to water
- Conserves water in the body
- produces concentrated urine
Aquaporins - vesicles in the cell membrane
- highly water-permeable pores
Oxytocin - causes contraction of the pregnant uterus towards the end of gestation
- increases in concentration in the plasma during labor
- aids in milk ejection
Milk letdown/ milk ejection - mechanism by which suckling stimulus on the nipple of the breast
causes signal transmission for oxytocin secretion by the PPG
Myoepithelial cells - lie outside of and form a lattice-work surrounding the alveoli of
 mammary glands
- contracts during milk letdown