ANAT 322 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Corpus Luteum, Posterior Pituitary, Anterior Pituitary

• School: McGill University
• Department: Anatomy & Cell Biology
• Course: ANAT 322
• Professor: Thomas Stroh

Document Summary

Part i: anatomical organization of the neuroendocrine hypothalamus. Endocrine gland weighing about 0. 5 g, composed of an anterior, intermediate, and posterior lobe: very different histological staining. Connected with the brain (hypothalamus) via the median eminence and the infundibulum. Located in a concave pouch of the sphenoid bone named sella turcica . Cells in the anterior portion tend to become cancerous (benign), which is still life threatening if not treated. Classical endocrine tissue no neurons: only regulated by neurons. 3 different staining behaviours: basophilic blue, acidophilic red, chromophobic no colour eg. corticotropes (acth) Different staining populations correspond to functionally different cells. Somatotropes (dorsal, acidophilic: make up the vast majority of the anterior pituitary hormone-secreting cells, produces gh. Lactotropes: produce prolactin, which acts on the mammary glands in females. Corticotropes (dorsal, chromophobic: produces acth which acts on the adrenal cortex. Gonadotropes (ventral, basophilic: produces fsh and lh, acts on the gonads. Thyrotropes (central, basophilic: produces tsh which acts on the thyroid.