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  3. The Hypothalamic-pituitary Axis Part 1 – Anatomy & Physiology

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Obstetrics Anaesthesia

Tutorial 186

The Hypothalamic-pituitary Axis Part 1 – Anatomy & Physiology

Dr Sarah Griffiths, CT2

The Royal Cornwall Hospital, United Kingdom

Correspondence to sarah.griffiths3@nhs.net

5TH JULY 2010

Abstract

The anterior pituitary and hypothalamus are linked by a portal circulation
The anterior pituitary secretes 6 hormones: ACTH, GH, FSH, LH, TSH and PRL
The posterior pituitary secretes ADH and oxytocin
Regulation of pituitary hormone release is via a negative feedback system
Pituitary tumours may be microadenomas (< 10mm diameter) or macroadenomas (> 10mm)
Tumours may present with symptoms due to a mass effect or hormonal hyper or hypo-secretion
Hyper-secretion of hormones by pituitary tumours can lead to hyperprolactinaemia (excess PRL), acromegaly (excess GH) and Cushing’s Disease (excess ACTH

creative commons

This work by WFSA is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/