Endocrine glands

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Endocrine glands

Brain-thyroid link

Overview

Endocrine glands

Definition:

Endocrine glands produce hormones into the blood or lymph systems. These glands include the thyroid, parathyroid, hypothalamus, pineal, pituitary, adrenal, islets of Langerhans in the pancreas, and the gonads (testes and ovaries). The effects of these hormones may affect one organ or tissue, or the entire body.

Information:

When a gland produces a substance, it is called secretion. There are many disorders that can result when too few hormones are secreted (hyposecretion), or too many are secreted (hypersecretion). Here is a partial list of disorders that may result when a particular gland does not produce the right amount of hormones.

Thyroid:

Parathyroid:

Tetany
Renal calculi
Excessive loss of minerals from bone

Adrenal:

Pituitary:

Testes and ovaries:

Lack of sex development (unclear genitalia)

Pancreas:

Review Date: 8/1/2005
Reviewed By: Nikheel S. Kolatkar, MD, Clinical and Research Fellow, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Hypertension, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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