Revolutionary changes in endocrinology

Abstract

Endocrinology was originally born as the science of endocrine glands, which are highly specialized organs and perform well-defined physiological functions. These organs do not have ducts that remove secretions in the body cavity, and they direct the active substances they synthesize into the bloodstream, which with blood spread throughout the body and regulate the functions of different organs. As a result of successful studies of the first half of the last century, a number of endocrine glands were quickly identified, which included the adrenal glands, sex glands (testicles and ovaries) and the thyroid gland, which secrete non-protein (steroid and thyroid) hormones into the blood, as well as the pancreas, parathyroid glands, placenta, etc. Almost immediately, a central organ of internal secretion was discovered - the pituitary gland, which produces protein tropic hormones (ACTH, LH, FSH, growth hormone, prolactin, thyroid-stimulating hormone, etc.), which vlyayut its action in the periphery and control the secretion of hormones of peripheral endocrine glands. It is interesting that all endocrine organs, functioning independently of the pituitary gland, themselves secrete hormones of protein nature in the blood. The pancreas produces insulin and glucagon, the parathyroid gland produces parathyroid hormone, and the placenta produces chorionic gonadotropin and somatomammotropin.