CHAPTER XXXIX 



Central control of pituitary secretion 



G. W. HARRIS 



Department of .Xeiiroendocrinology, Institute of Psychiatry, British Postgraduate Medical 

 Federation, University oj London, Maudsley Hospital, London, England 



CHAPTER CONTENTS 



Adenohypophysis 



Central Nervous System Effects on Anterior Pituitary 



Activity 

 Anatomy of Hypothalamoadcnohypophysial System 

 Hypophysial Portal Vessels and Anterior Pituitary Activity 

 Humoral stimulation of gonadotrophic secretion 

 Humoral stimulation of ACTH, TSH and lactogenic 

 secretion 

 Control of Anterior Pituitary Activity 



General picture oi reciprocal relations between central 



nervous system and endocrine system 

 Endocrine activity after hypophysectomy 

 Anterior pituitary activity after pituitary stalk section or 

 transplantation 

 Gonadotrophic secretion after pituitary stalk section or 



transplantation 

 Adrenocorticotrophic secretion after pituitary stalk 



section or transplantation 

 Thyrotrophic secretion after pituitary stalk section or 



transplantation 

 Lactogenic hormone secretion after pituitary stalk sec- 

 tion or transplantation 

 Target gland activity after hypothalamic lesions 

 Gonadotrophic secretion and hypothalamic lesions 

 ACTH secretion and hypothalamic lesions 

 TSH secretion and hypothalamic lesions 

 Target gland activity and electrical stimulation of hypo- 

 thalamus 

 Gonadotrophin secretion and hypothalamic stimulation 

 ACTH secretion and hypothalamic stimulation 

 TSH secretion and hypothalamic stimulation 

 Hypothalamic localization of pituitary function 

 Target gland activity and extrahypothalamic regions of 



central nervous system 

 Endocrine activity and development of nervous system 

 Conclusions Regarding Central Control of Adenohypophysis 

 Neurohypophysis 



Anatomy of Hypothalamoneurohypophysial System 

 Nervous Reflex Modifications of Neurohypophysial Activity 



Reflex control of antidiuretic hormone (ADH) secretion 

 Reflex activation of oxytocic hormone secretion 

 Oxytocic hormone and milk-ejection reflex 

 Oxytocic hormone and parturition 

 Oxytocic hormone and sperm transport 

 Adrenal Medullary Hormones and Nervous Reflex Activa- 

 tion of Neurohypophysis 



THE GREEKS BELIEVED that the Waste products of a 

 chemical reaction, whereby blood was endowed 

 with 'animal spirits' in the brain, flowed down the 

 funnel-shaped infundibulum to the pituitary gland. 

 From the gland ducts were supposed to pass these 

 waste products into the nasal cavity to form the 

 'pituita' ornasal mucus. This view was held for many 

 hundreds of years. It is of interest that .so far as the 

 pituitary stalk is concerned similar views have been 

 re-expressed in recent years. It is likely that posterior 

 pituitary hormones pass, in some form, down the 

 nerve fibers of the stalk to the neural lobe; and that 

 the anterior lobe of the pituitary is brought under 

 hypothalamic control by means of some humoral 

 agent or agents passing down the portal blood vessels 

 of the stalk to the gland. 



ADENOHYPOPHYSIS 



Central Nervous System Effects on 

 Anterior Pituitary Activity 



The first evidence that the central nervous .system 

 might exert a decisive influence on the activity of the 

 anterior pituitary and its target organ glands came 

 from the studies of Marshall (220, 222, 223). He 



1007 



