Objective 11: Understand structure and function of the endocrine system in relation to growth and homeostasis

This another one of those objectives that I just can't figure out the right answer. I've been sitting here racking my brain to try to think of the right answer that could fulfill this objective and I keep coming to a road block. But I'm going to give it my best attempt. Okay, here it goes.

The endocrine system is an amazing system that interacts parallel to the nervous system to cordinate and intergrate the activity of body cells. The endocrine system uses hormones (chemical messengers), instead of the electrochemical impluses by neurons from the nervous system, and releases them into the blood. These chemical messengers travel to their "target" organs and effect them in certain ways. The endocrine system uses hormones along with negative and positive feedback mechanisms to maintain the bodies homeostasis.  The anterior pituitary gland of the endocrine system secretes growth hormone (GH), which causes most body cells to increase in size and divide. This hormone allows us to grow. I know I probably didn't get anywhere near close to the right answer, but to be honest I'm still a little lost when it comes to this objective. The Interactive Physiology site did help me understand the structure and function of the endocrine system and how it helps aid in our bodies homeostasis.

Objective 14: Endocrine System

Objective 14: Describe the location, histology, hormones, and functions of the thyroid gland, the parathyroid gland, the adrenal glands, the pancreas, the ovaries, the testes, the pineal gland, and the thymus

WOW! I'd have to say that this is alot of information that is wanted on one objective. I was pretty overwhelmed when I saw it and wondered, 'how on earth am I going to get that one done?' The textbook was a great help (as always) but what really helped our with the location and functions of the endocrine system was our textbook's Interactive Physiology website. I know I have used this site for numerous objectives (like for the respiratory system and alimentary canal), but it has done wonders for me! I really would be kind of lost without it. I had to click under the tab of endocrine system, go to anatomy review, and then just sit back and soak everything in. This interactive lesson not only shows the location of these glands, but also the hormones they secrete and the functions that they perform on the body. Three for one deal? I'll take it! The same site that I used for the histology of the alimentary canal and the respiratory system is the same one that I used for the endocrine system. I wasn't able to take many good pictures of the slides from our labtime (most of the pictures were blurry), so having this site was a great reinforcement. I also found this picture that was helpful, and it shows the location of all the endocrine glands along with their hormones and functions within the body. The endocrine system is a complicated system as it is, so I'm glad that I have sites that can offer me help with multiple objectives.

Objective 5 & 12: Hypothalamus and hypothalamus- pituitary complex

Objective 5: Explain why the hypothalamus is classified as an endocrine gland
Objective 12: Name hypothalamus- pituitary complex hormones and give their functions

Is the hypothalamus an endocrine gland? It seems to be an ongoing debate even to this day. A true endocrine gland is a ductless gland that releases hormones into surrounding tissue fluid and has a rich vascular and lymphatic drainage to recieve the hormones. But the hypothalamus is an amazing gland. It not only performs neural functions and controls the endocrine system, but it also produces and releases hormones. Producing and releasing hormones is the major factor in deciding whether or not the gland is an endocrine gland, and the hypothalamus has that. I agree when it is said that the hypothalamus gland is an endocrine gland.

I stolled across this photo, which was very helpful to me when I was trying to understand the hypothalamus-pituitary complex and the hormones that this complex secretes. This photo shows the connections of the hypothalamus to the pituitary, and some of the targets of the pituitary hormones. It summerizes the hypothalamus- pituitary complex very well, and there wasn't alot of confusing extra information.

These charts on pages 530-531 in our textbook were a little more in depth in describing the hormones of the hypothalamus- pituitary complex and the effects of the hormones. This was very beneficial because it not only gave me the name of the hormones involved in this complex, but it gave me the regulation of release, target organs and effects, and the effects of hyposecretion and hypersecretion. So this chart provided me with more useful information, and the way it was organized helped me retain the information better.

Objective 4: Differentiate the differences between endocrine and exocrine glands

When I was trying to figure out the differences between the endocrine and exocrine glands, I referred to both my textbook and lab book because they had a very short, simple explanation that was also very detailed and straight to the point. It's harder for me to learn about certain glands or process when the book goes on and on for paragraphs or even pages trying to explain them. So when the paragraphs are short but still give you adequate information, then it was easier for me to learn the concept. The first picture is the short paragrah from the textbook from Chapter 15 (pg. 519), that tells the basic information of the two glands, but it is easy for me to understand the differences when they describe the two side by side. The rest of the pictures are the ones I found from my lab book, the second picture has another little paragraph that gave me a little more basic information about the two glands. Then the next two pictures after that actually showed how the exocrine and endocrine glands are formed from epithelial sheets. It gave me a better understanding on how the two glands actually appear in our bodies.

 (1) Page 519 from our textbook

(2) Page 69 from our lab book

(3) page 69 figure 6 A. 2 from our lab book

(4) page 69 figure 6 A. 2 from our lab book

(5) page 69. the caption under 6 A. 2

Objective 15: Discuss how the adrenal gland responds to stress

This picture from page 543 in our textbook helped me to understand how the adrenal gland responds to stress. On the left side of the chart, it shows the effects of short-term stress and lists the response of the stress on the body. On the right side of the chart, it shows the effects and responses when more prolonged stress is brought upon the body. The stressful stimuli causes the hypothalamus to activate the adrenal medulla via sympathetic nerve impulses (shown on the left) and activates the adrenal cortex via hormonal signals (shown on the right). I love to have charts that show where in the body things occur. When I read it in the textbook, its hard for me to understand and that's why this chart was so helpful to me.