over the past decades, endocrine pathology has emerged as a distinct clinical subspecialty in the field of surgical pathology. Endocrine pathologists play an essential role in the management of patients with endocrine disorders arising from pineal, hypothalamus, pituitary, parathyroid, thyroid, adrenal, paraganglia, pancreas, gastrointestinal tract, lung, thymus, and urogenital system. recent a...

Cells communicate with each other through molecular messengers, the hormones. The simple definition of a hormone as an intercellular messenger is much more inclusive than the original one, which limited the hormones to substances produced by specialized multicellular organs —the glands—that circulated in blood and acted on distant target organs. This simplification allowed single cells to be co...

Vitamin D was discovered as an anti-rachitic agent preventing a failure in bone mineralization, but it is now established that the active form of vitamin D3 (1α,25(OH)2D3) induces bone resorption. Discovery of the receptor activator of nuclear factor -κB ligand (RANKL) uncovered the molecular mechanism by which 1α,25(OH)2D3 stimulates bone resorption. Treating osteoblastic cells with 1α,25(OH)2...

THE PITUITARY GLAND This is a small, bean-shaped structure that lies at the base of the brain within the confines of the sella turcica. It is connected to the hypothalamus by a "stalk," composed of axons extending from the hypothalamus. The pituitary is composed of two morphologically and functionally distinct components: the anterior lobe (adenohypophysis) and the posterior lobe (neurohypophys...

Analyzing variation in rates of evolution can provide important insights into the factors that constrain trait evolution, as well as those that promote diversification. Metazoan endocrine systems exhibit apparent variation in evolutionary rates of their constituent components at multiple levels, yet relatively few studies have quantified these patterns and analyzed them in a phylogenetic contex...

The endocrine system mediates long-range peptide hormone signaling to broadcast changes in metabolic status to distant target tissues via the circulatory system. In many animals, the diffuse endocrine system of the gut is the largest endocrine tissue, with the full spectrum of endocrine cell subtypes not yet fully characterized. Here, we combine molecular mapping, lineage tracing and genetic an...

The endocrine system is one of the body’s major homeostatic control systems whose aim is to maintain normal functions and development in the face of a constantly changing environment. Working in tandem with the nervous system, which mainly is responsible for rapid and immediate responses, the approximately 30 different glands comprising the endocrine system tend to act in a slower and more sust...

Recent identification of new selenocysteine-containing proteins has revealed relationships between the two trace elements selenium (Se) and iodine and the hormone network. Several selenoproteins participate in the protection of thyrocytes from damage by H(2)O(2) produced for thyroid hormone biosynthesis. Iodothyronine deiodinases are selenoproteins contributing to systemic or local thyroid horm...

133 Abstract: Background: Both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are associated with imbalances affecting not only certain neurotransmitter pathways, but also the endocrine system, which is partly controlled by neurotransmitters. As a result, the psychotropic treatment used to treat these disorders can result in endocrine side effects. Method: We reviewed recent searches to determine the relev...

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC) are compounds that alter the normal functioning of the endocrine system of both wildlife and humans. A huge number of chemicals have been identified as endocrine disruptors, among them several pesticides. Pesticides are used to kill unwanted organisms in crops, public areas, homes and gardens, and parasites in medicine. Human are exposed to pesticides due to...