Comprehensive Overview of the Endocrine System and Its Functions

the purpose of this lecture is to talk about the endocrine system so what is the endocrine system so it

consists of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream that help control bodily functioning

hormones are going to be chemical Messengers in the bloodstream so we can think about these hormones as being sort

of similar to this neurotransmitters we've talked about previously however hormones are going to circulate through

the body through the bloodstream instead of traveling between neurons like we talked about with neurotransmitters

right but the same sort of idea they're functioning as chemical Messengers allowing one part of the body to

communicate with another part the hypothalamus is going to link the nervous system and the endocrine system

by exerting control over the pituitary gland so let's go through let's talk about the

different structures and the function of the different elements of the endocrine system

so let's start with the hypothalamus so the hypothalamus is going to be a brain structure that's going to control

the pituitary gland in turn the pituitary gland is going to be the master gland it's going to be

responsible for controlling essentially all the other parts of the endocrine system it's going to do things like

regulate growth it's going to control the thyroid the ovaries and testes the pancreas in the adrenal cortex

it's also going to be responsible for regulating water and salt metabolism as well

next up is the thyroid the thyroid is located here in the neck and it's going to control metabolic activity rates so

if someone is referred to as having hypothyroidism if it's hypo that means their thyroid is not that means her

metabolism is too low if they're hyperthyroid then their metabolism is too high

and those sorts of issues can result from a variety of things including tumors but there are other processes of

well that can make someone either hyperthyroid or hypothyroid next is the adrenal cortex it's going to

regulate carbohydrate and salt metabolism it's also going to control our inflammatory response

next is the Adrenal medulla this is going to be the part of the body that we talked about previously we talked about

fight or flight so the Adrenal medulla is going to release adrenaline it's going to prepare the body for action

it's going to secrete stress hormones it's going to be its primary function the pancreas is going to be responsible

for controlling levels of insulin and glucagon and it's also going to regulate our sugar metabolism

we also have the ovaries in women and this is going to affect physical development reproductive organs and

sexual behavior so it's going to release things like estrogen for example it's been one of the hormones associated with

the ovaries and Men we're going to have testes which are going to affect physical development

reproductive organs and sexual behavior for example the testes are going to release testosterone the primary male

sex hormone which is responsible for things like sexual desire as well as aggressive

behavior people sometimes make the mistake that they think that only men have testosterone women also have

testosterone it's just the levels of testosterone tend to be much much higher in men than they are in women to the

extent that testosterone levels are high in men or in women you're going to see more of these male like sorts of

characteristics for example things like physical dominance and aggressive behavior because those are associated

with testosterone levels