Endocrine General Info

The endocrine system produces chemicals call what?

hormones

What is the purpose of hormones?

They regulate many body functions

Where do hormones travel?

In the bloodstream

What glands are ductless?

Endocrine glands

What glands secrete their products into small tubes or ducts that lead to target cells?

Exocrine glands

What organ is an example of a mixed gland with both endocrine and exocrine functions?

The pancreas

What are three ways that endocrine glands are stimulated to release and produce hormones by?

Other glands (Hormonal), The nervous system (Neural), and Chemical receptors in the blood (Humoral)

When a gland produces a hormone that activates another gland, that called a what?

Hormonal stimulus

All hormones are either _______ or __________

Amino-Acid Based, Steroids

Hormones only affect what?

Target cells

Specific protein receptors may be on the surface of the plasma membrane or ___________

inside the cell

True or False: Most hormones affect cells in several organs

True

What is the first step in an Amino Acid-Based mechanism of action?

It binds to receptor on the plasma membrane and triggers a response in a second messenger molecule inside the cell

What do the second messengers do in regards to an amino acid based action?

They transmit signals received at the surface to target molecules in the cell

What is the first step in a steroid mechanism of action?

They pass through the plasma membrane to bind with a specific receptor in the target cell

What does the hormone-receptor do in regards to steroids?

It binds to the DNA to stimulate or inhibit transcription of certain genes

Why do Amino-acid based hormones use a second-messenger signaling system?

Those hormones cannot cross the plasma membrane

What do tropic hormones target?

Other endocrine glands

What stimulates the production and secretion of other hormones?

Tropic hormones

The idea that a stimulus triggers a process that creates a product and then that product in turn inhibits the stimulus of the process that created it is known as what?

Negative feedback

What gland is often called the “master gland” because it controls the function of several other glands?

The pituitary gland

The pituitary stores and releases hormones made by what?

The hypothalamus