Gland Central Station
This butterfly-shaped gland is located in the front of the neck, wrapped around the trachea.
What is a Thyroid Gland?
Secreted by the pancreas, this vital hormone allows glucose to enter the body's cells, effectively lowering blood sugar levels.
What is insulin?
This is the primary type of feedback loop used by the endocrine system, where the final product of a pathway acts to shut off or slow down its own production.
What is a negative feedback loop?
: Unlike negative feedback, this type of feedback loop amplifies and accelerates a process, moving the body further away from its baseline until a definitive climax event is reached.
What is a positive feedback loop?
Patient A presents with extreme fatigue, unexplained weight gain, and feeling constantly cold. A doctor would likely suspect this underactive gland condition.
What is hypothyroidism?
Sitting like tiny hats directly on top of both kidneys, these complex organs are split into a cortex and a medulla.
What are the adrenal glands?
This "fight-or-flight" hormone spikes your heart rate and redirects blood flow to your muscles during sudden moments of extreme stress or fear.
What is epinephrine (or adrenaline)?
If blood calcium levels drop dangerously low, parathyroid hormone (PTH) activates cells called osteoclasts to break down this body tissue to release calcium back into circulation.
What is glucagon?
During childbirth, pressure on the cervix triggers the release of this hormone, which causes stronger uterine contractions, leading to even more hormone release.
What is oxytocin?
Patient B experiences excessive thirst, frequent urination, and unexplained weight loss despite eating normally. These are classic symptoms of this endocrine disorder.
What is diabetes mellitus?
Often called the "master gland," this pea-sized structure sits snugly in a bony groove at the base of the brain, just below the hypothalamus.
What is the pituitary gland?
Secreted by the pineal gland, this hormone rises in the dark to signal to the body that it is time to sleep.
What is melatonin?
If blood calcium levels drop dangerously low, parathyroid hormone (PTH) activates cells called osteoclasts to break down this body tissue to release calcium back into circulation.
What is bone (or osseous tissue)?
This specific physical event acts as the final "stop signal" or climax that breaks the positive feedback loop of labor and uterine contractions
What is the birth of the baby (and/or placenta)?
A patient with a tumor on their adrenal cortex produces too much cortisol, leading to weight gain in the face ("moon face") and upper back. This describes what specific syndrome?
What is Cushing's Syndrome?
This pinecone-shaped gland is located deep in the center of the brain between the two hemispheres and responds heavily to light levels.
What is the pineal gland?
Produced by the thyroid, this iodine-containing hormone acts as the body's main thermostat, regulating your overall basal metabolic rate.
What is thyroxine (or T4)?
In thyroid regulation, when thyroxine levels get too high, they loop back to inhibit the release of TSH from the anterior pituitary and TRH from this brain structure.
What is the hypothalamus?
Outside of labor, this critical protective vascular process relies on positive feedback to rapidly recruit platelets to plug a damaged blood vessel wall.
What is blood clotting (or coagulation)?
A lack of dietary iodine prevents the thyroid from making its hormones. Because the negative feedback loop can't turn off TSH, the thyroid swells into this visible neck mass.
What is a goiter?
Located in the upper thoracic cavity just behind the sternum, this gland is highly active during childhood to train T-cells but shrinks significantly after puberty.
What is the thymus?
This hormone, released by the posterior pituitary, acts directly on the kidneys to conserve water and prevent dehydration when fluids are low.
What is antidiuretic hormone (or ADH / vasopressin)?
This condition occurs when a negative feedback loop fails completely, such as when the immune system destroys insulin-producing beta cells, leading to chronic high blood sugar.
What is Type 1 Diabetes?
In the female reproductive cycle, a sudden surge of estrogen triggers a massive positive feedback release of this pituitary hormone, causing ovulation.
What is luteinizing hormone (or LH)?
If a tumor causes the anterior pituitary to oversecrete growth hormone after a person's epiphyseal (growth) plates have fused in adulthood, they develop this condition characterized by enlarged hands, feet, and facial bones.
What is acromegaly?