BIOL1008 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Endocrine System, Homeostasis, Sex Selection
BIOL1008: Topic 1 – Sex and Reproduction
Lecture 4 – Hormones and Endocrine System Introduction
Hormones
• Chemical messengers that travel throughout the body coordinating complex biological process
(growth, metabolism and fertility
• Individual cells communicate so that we live as a well-integrated whole
• Quality of signal depends on:
o Production of signal
o Reception of signal by intended targets
• Endocrine vs nervous system
o Both communicate messages within the body
o Integrate stimuli responses to both the external and internal environment
o crucial to body function
o Endocrine is not as fast as the nervous system, and consists of chemical messages rather
than electrical ones
Endocrine system
• Homeostasis (maintenance of the eternal environment despite changes in external stimuli)
• Integration and regulation of growth and development (sex selection, growth invitro)
• Control and maintain and instigation of sexual production
• Major cites of hormone production
o Brain: hypothalamus, pituitary
o Throat: thyroid and parathyroid glands
o Gonads: ovaries and testes
• Target cells have specific receptor proteins in order to act upon a hormonal (chemical
endocrine) messenger
• Most travel in the blood (some travel via the lymphatic system)
• Certain hormones only affect certain cells (only the cell with the specific receptor will respond)
Types of receptors
Water soluble hormone receptors are generally found on the cell surface as they cannot
penetrate the phospholipid bilayer that is the cell plasma membrane
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Document Summary
Lecture 4 hormones and endocrine system introduction. Hormones: chemical messengers that travel throughout the body coordinating complex biological process (growth, metabolism and fertility. Individual cells communicate so that we live as a well-integrated whole: quality of signal depends on, production of signal, reception of signal by intended targets, endocrine vs nervous system, both communicate messages within the body. Integrate stimuli responses to both the external and internal environment: crucial to body function, endocrine is not as fast as the nervous system, and consists of chemical messages rather than electrical ones.
