melanocyte - stimulating hormone controls hormone release from the anterior pituitary gland.
what controls hormone release from the anterior pituitary gland?
melanocyte - stimulating hormone
hormone secretion from the anterior pituitary gland is regulated by hormones secreted by the hypothalamus. neuroendocrine cells in the hypothalamus project axons to the median eminence, at the base of the brain. at this site, these cells can release substances into small blood vessels that travel directly to the anterior pituitary gland (the hypothalamo-hypophyseal portal vessels).
anterior pituitary
oxytocin and vasopressin (also called anti-diuretic hormone), the two neurohypophysial hormones of the posterior pituitary gland (the neurohypophysis), are secreted from the nerve endings of magnocellular neurosecretory cells into the systemic circulation. the cell bodies of the oxytocin and vasopressin neurons are in the paraventricular nucleus and supraoptic nucleus, respectively, and the electrical activity of these neurons is regulated by afferent synaptic inputs from other brain regions. by contrast, the hormones of the anterior pituitary gland (the adenohypophysis) are secreted from endocrine cells that, in mammals, are not directly innervated, yet the secretion of these hormones (adrenocorticotrophic hormone, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, thyroid-stimulating hormone, prolactin, and growth hormone) remains under the control of the hypothalamus. the hypothalamus controls the anterior pituitary gland via "releasing factors" and "release-inhibiting factors"; these are blood-borne substances [author means via bloodstream and not by the lymphatic system nor air, nor any other modes of transport] released by hypothalamic neurons into blood vessels at the base of the brain, at the median eminence. these vessels, the hypothalamo-hypophysial portal vessels, carry the hypothalamic factors to the anterior pituitary, where they bind to specific receptors on the surface of the hormone-producing cells.
neuroendocrinology