What is the pituitary gland?
1 Answer
The pituitary is considered an endocrine gland with a wide range of endocrine functions. These include, but are by no means an exhaustive list:
-
It receives instructions from the hypothalamus, the 'headmaster' endocrine gland, located in the brain.
-
From those instructions, the pituitary gland then releases various hormones through the bloodstream via nearby capillaries.
-
Some hormones act on the gonads, such as follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone (found in both men and women);
-
Other hormones act on the thyroid (thyroid stimulating hormone); the adrenal glands (adrenocorticotropic hormone); and on many different tissues (growth hormone, for example).
Often these pituitary hormones then 'signal' the effector organ or gland to do something else, or release a substance.