Endocrine System: Pituitary Gland Functions and Associated Disorders

This discussion post delves into the intricate functions of the pituitary gland, a crucial component of the endocrine system. It elucidates the gland's role in controlling other endocrine glands, its hormone production (including growth hormone, vasopressin, prolactin, enkephalins, endorphins, thyroid-stimulating hormone, and oxytocin), and the effects of both hyper- and hypofunction. Hyperpituitarism, caused by an overactive pituitary gland, can lead to conditions like acromegaly, prolactinoma, and hyperthyroidism, each with distinct clinical manifestations. Conversely, hypopituitarism, resulting from insufficient hormone production, can cause hypothyroidism, growth hormone deficiency, and other related disorders, leading to a range of symptoms such as weight loss, decreased libido, and infertility. The post emphasizes the pituitary gland's central importance, noting that its dysfunction can trigger malfunctions in other glands like the thyroid and adrenal glands. Desklib offers a wealth of resources, including similar solved assignments and past papers, to aid students in their studies.

Running head: ENDOCRINOLOGY DISCUSSION
ENDOCRINOLOGY DISCUSSION
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Introduction:
The endocrine system consists of glands called the Endocrine glands that secretes
hormones into the blood stream directly. The endocrine glands consist of various different
types of glands. One of the important glands from the endocrine system is the pituitary gland.
The pituitary gland is located within a structure called sella turcica in the base of the brain.
The pituitary gland is responsible of controlling most of the endocrine gland’s function.
Therefore, it is also known as the Master gland (Tziaferi & Dattani, 2018).
The Pituitary gland’s function, hormones produced and the function of the
hormones in the body:
Function of the gland:
The pituitary gland wheels the glands such as adrenal, thyroid, testicles and ovaries.
The pituitary gland receives signal from the hypothalamus and it controls the secretion of the
amount of hormones released (Campbell, 2016).
Hormones produced and their actions in the body:
The pituitary gland comprises of two portions, the anterior pituitary and the posterior
pituitary and the secretion of the hormones are divided as follows:
Anterior pituitary:
 Stimulating growth hormones for the bones and muscles
 Production of an antidiuretic hormone called Vasopressin, for kidney
 Stimulation of prolactin in mammary gland for milk production
 Creating Enkephalins in brain that helps in inhibiting pain sensations
 Endorphins secretion that regulates the immune system

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 Production of thyroid stimulating hormones that regulates the secretion of
thyroid hormones from the thyroid gland.
Posterior pituitary:
 Creating oxytocin for uterus in order to stimulate contraction that leads to birth
 Secretion of skin darkening hormone called Beta-melanocyte.
Causes and clinical manifestations of gland hyper-function:
Hyperpituitarism:
The overactive pituitary gland leads to hyperpituitarism. In such condition, the pituitary
gland starts secreting immoderate amount of hormones which may be due to noncancerous-
tumor or hypothalamus dysfunction (Tziaferi & Dattani, 2018).
An overactive pituitary gland can lead to several types of disorders which includes:
 Acromegaly: This results in secretion of growth hormones in adults in excessive
amounts. It results in:
 Growth of hands and feet.
 The facial structure changes, the lips, nose, jaw and other part of the face
gets bigger than their usual size.
 The skin turns oily, thick and coarse
 Increase in the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and heart
attack.
 Irregular period for women and erectile dysfunction for men.

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 Prolactinoma: The disorder takes place due over production od prolactin.
Prolactinoma results in abnormal reproductive functions women and men. the
excessive production od prolactin can cause:
 Tenderness of the breast and starts milk production in a woman who is not
pregnant.
 Irregular period, infertility
 Erectile dysfunction in men, low fertility and loss of energy
 Hyperthyroidism: Overproduction of thyroid stimulating hormones leading to
hyperthyroidism (Yeung & Tahir, 2017). It includes symptoms such as:
 Nervousness
 Loss in weight
 Weakness in muscles
 Irregular or rapid heartbeat
Causes and clinical manifestations of gland hypo-function:
Hypopituitarism:
Hypopituitarism is a condition where the pituitary gland flops to yield hormones or it
doesn’t produce sufficient hormones as per their requirement. It can be a result of inherited
disorder or due to the presence of tumor in the pituitary gland (|Romero, Jones & Radovick,
2016).
There are various other causes of hypothyroidism, such as:
 Injuries in head
 Tumor in the brain
 Surgery
 Treatment with radiations

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 Inflammation
 Stroke
 Mutations in the glands
 Severe blood loss
Various types of disorders that may cause due to less secretion of pituitary hormones:
 Hypothyroidism
 Growth hormone deficiency
 Adrenocorticotropic hormone deficiency
 Prolactin deficiency
 Pituitary apoplexy
Symptoms:
 Loss of weight
 Decrease in sex drive
 Difficulty in keeping the body warm
 Loss of appetite
 Puffiness of face
 Anemia
 Infertility in both men and women
 Irregular or sometimes no periods, pubic hair loss, and inability in milk production
after child birth
 Short height in children (Scanes, 2015).

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Cross-post:
It is true that the thyroid gland is important for the human body as it theatres a vital
part in the body metabolism and improvement. It helps in regulating many functions of the
body by releasing a constant amount of the thyroid hormones into the blood. If in any
situation, the body requires more energy, the gland produces more thyroid hormones
(Stathatos, 2019). But as it other glands. It makes the pituitary gland more important in the
body. As any problem in the pituitary gland will ultimately lead to malfunction of the other
glands, like thyroid, adrenal etc (Scanes, 2015).

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Reference:
Campbell, I. (2016). Hypothalamic and pituitary function. Anaesthesia & Intensive Care
Medicine, 17(12), 652-654.
Romero, C. J., Jones, A. L., & Radovick, S. (2016). States of Pituitary Hypofunction. In
Genetic Diagnosis of Endocrine Disorders (pp. 103-113). Academic Press.
Scanes, C. G. (2015). Pituitary gland. In Sturkie's Avian Physiology (pp. 497-533). Academic
Press.
Stathatos, N. (2019). Anatomy and physiology of the thyroid gland. In The Thyroid and Its
Diseases (pp. 3-12). Springer, Cham.
Tziaferi, V., & Dattani, M. T. (2018). Pituitary Gland Embryology, Anatomy and Physiology.
In Endocrine Surgery in Children (pp. 427-437). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Yeung, M., & Tahir, F. (2017). The pathology of pituitary, parathyroids, thyroid and adrenal
glands. Surgery (Oxford), 35(10), 527-536.

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