Tutorial 4.

5
Endocrine system (hormones)
Glands
There are 2 types of glands:
1. Exocrine glands release their chemicals into ducts, which
carry them to the target, usually on the body’s surface.
2. Endocrine glands release their chemicals, called hormones,
directly into the circulatory system (blood) until they reach
the target on which it normally exerts its effects:
 In the peripheral body: adrenal glands, testes/ovaries
 In the brain: hypothalamus, pituitary gland

Hormones are important for the coordination of complex

biological processes as sleep, immune system, sexual desire,
mood, stress, growth, or fertility.

Gonads
Gonads create sperm and egg cell and produce and release steroid hormones.
Male testes = sperm cell
Female ovaries = ova
After copulation, a single sperm cell may fertilize an ovum to form a cell called zygote.
Each human body has 23 pairs of chromosomes:
 22 pairs are autosomal chromosomes that contains genes not specific for sex.
 1 pair are the sex chromosomes that determines the sex, about the 3rd and 4th months of
pregnancy.

The female cells have two large sex chromosomes called X chromosomes.
The male sex chromosomes are called X chromosome and the other is the Y chromosomes.
Female = XX
Male = XY

Classes of hormones
 Amino acid derivates:
-Epinephrine (i.e., adrenaline) - by adrenal medulla
-Melatonin - by pineal gland

 Steroid hormones:
Sex hormones (influence the gene expression)
-Androgens (i.e., testosterone) – by testes
-Estrogens (i.e., estradiol) – by ovaries
-Progestins (i.e., progesterone) prepares the uterus and breasts for pregnancy.

Adrenal cortex hormones

-Cortisol – by adrenal cortex (out layer of adrenal cortex, referred as stress hormone)

 Peptide and protein hormones

-Oxytocin – by pituitary (attachment hormone) also present in dog.
Endocrine and nervous system
Production and release of hormones by the endocrine glands is regulated by the nervous
system:
 Hypothalamus and pituitary gland

The structure of the pituitary gland is the hypothalamus; involved in diverse basic functions
as heart rate, blood pressure or temperature.
It regulates the pituitary gland by producing and releasing hormones:
 Hypothalamic hormones that stimulate the release of anterior pituitary hormone are
releasing hormones.
 Hypothalamic hormones that inhibit the release of anterior pituitary hormone are
release-inhibiting hormones.

The pituitary gland is a link between the nervous system and the endocrine gland.
The pituitary gland is frequently referred as the master gland because its hormones are
tropic, which function is to release hormones from other glands.
It is made of an anterior and posterior part, that fuse during embryological development.

It influences the endocrine gland, by secretion of hormones.

 Anterior pituitary - during the development migrates to assume its posterior position.
 Posterior pituitary - The posterior pituitary is the endocrine system's most influential
gland. Under the influence of the hypothalamus, the pituitary regulates growth and
controls other endocrine glands.

Differences between hormones and neurotransmitters

-Hormones: travel long distance, slow response, long duration, variable severity of the
response (concentration).

-Neurotransmitters: short distance, fast response (millisecond), short duration and all-or-
none law.

Gonadal Hormone
Women and men have the same hormones that not necessarily works at the same level.
-In women, the levels of gonadal and gonotrophic hormones go through a cycle that repeats
itself every 28 days or so, fluctuation that control the female menstrual cycle.
-In men levels of gonadal and gonadotropic hormones change little from day to day.

Regulation of hormone level

Hormone release is regulated by three different kinds of signals: by neural, hormonal signals
and nonhormonal chemicals.

Pulsatile hormone release refers to the typical pattern of hormone release, which occurs in
large surges several times a day.
 Hormones and sexual development
Each fetus, regardless of its genetic sex has the same pair of gonadal structures, called
primordial gonads. Each of them has an outer covering (cortex) that has the potential to
develop into an ovary and an internal core (medulla) which can develop into a testis.

Six weeks after conception, the Sry Gene located on the Y chromosome of the male,
produces SRY protein in male fetus. The STY gene protein causes the development of the
testes in the fetus, that produce testosterone. It causes the development of other male
structure; also in the brain, masculine patterns.
There is no female counterpart.

Six weeks after conception, both male and female have two complete sexes of reproductive
ducts.
 Wolffian system for the male, is the embryonic precursors of internal sex organs.
 Mullerian system for the female, is the embryonic precursors of internal sex organs.

Both male and female have genitals, external reproductive organs that develop from the
same precursor: bipotential precursor.
The development is controlled by the presence or absence of testosterone; if its present at
the appropriate stage of fetal development, male externals genitals otherwise proceeds
along female lines.

Sex difference in the Brain

According to the aromatization hypothesis, perinatal testosterone does not directly
masculinize the brain; the brain is masculinized by estradiol that has been aromatized from
perinatal testosterone. Alpha-fetoprotein deactivates circulating estradiol by binding to it
but does not affect testosterone.

Sexual development
There are some exceptional cases that influence the normal sexual development.
1. Androgenic Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS)
A condition which affects a child’s sexual development before birth and during puberty.
People with this syndrome are genetically male but are born with all or some of the physical
traits of a female. This happens because a mutation on the X chromosome causes the body
to resist androgen, the hormones that produce a male appearance.

2. Androgenital Syndrome (AGS) - Congenital adrenal hyperplasia

It is a condition where adrenal glands are overdeveloped from birth, resulting in production
of more testosterone.
People with this, born with ambiguous external genitals but develop male secondary sex
characteristics in puberty. People whose sexual development is intermediate or ambiguous
are called intersex.
Structural differences between the male and female hypothalamus
The function of the male and female hypothalamus is different in control of anterior
pituitary hormones.
It has been also discovered a nucleus in the medial preoptic area. This region of the
hypothalamus is involved in the regulation of sexual behaviors typically shown by males.
It has been first observed in a rat hypothalamus, that was several times larger in men.
This nucleus was called sexually dimorphic nucleus.

At birth, in both sex this nucleus has the same size. After some days, in male grows at a high
rate while in female does not. The growth is normally triggered by the estradiol, which has
been aromatized from testosterone.
The ventromedial nucleus (VMN) instead contains circuits critical for female sexual
behavior. It also plays a role in satiety.

Sexual orientation
Research has shown that differences in sexual orientation have a genetic basis.
Sexual preferences developed very early, and it is not a matter of choice.
Moreover, there are no differences yet discovered in the brains of an heterosexuals and
homosexual person.
 The maternal immune hypothesis is a theory of sexual orientation, that proposes that
the fraternal birth order effect of gay brothers, reflects the progressive immunization of
some mothers to male-specific antigens by each succeeding male fetus

Remember!
Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)
secreted by the pituitary gland to stimulate maturation of the egg cell (ovum)
Luteinizing hormone (LH)
secreted by the pituitary gland to promote ovulation
Vasopressin
hormone that helps prepare for fatherhood in certain species