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| photo credit: http://www.webicina.com/endocrinology |
Hormones
are always at work; these are fundamental chemicals necessary for our body to
work properly. The feeling of love, fear, anger and sadness are products of hormones' function. They are also one of the reasons why there are normal
individuals "literally speaking", and there are some who are not
because they might have some hormonal imbalances. We are all familiar with the
condition dwarfism. I know you have seen one in your life. Individuals who have
this condition have a malfunction in their growth hormone, which is vital for
normal growth development. Some people with endocrine disorders have gained
popularity because of uniqueness that they have, so not everything is a
disadvantage. You might have heard the tallest man, and the smallest man on
earth, if no here is the video for you to find out.
Endocrinology is
the study of human endocrine system which is comprises of tissues or organs and
their hormonal products, together with carrier proteins that will aid in the
diagnosis and treatment of endocrine disorders.
Medical
technologists do the laboratory procedures in order to identify if a certain
hormone in the body is on the appropriate level. Any slight increase or
decrease is critical or crucial for having abnormality. Well that will be my profession
God willing in the near future.
Endocrine
system partakes in the maintenance of homeostasis or having equilibrium in our
body. The presence of imbalances is a sign or explanation why a certain
individual have some kind of disorders or worst why a person died.
Endocrine
glands secrete hormones; these hormones are chemical messengers release to the
blood stream and take its action at a specific target cell/s to stimulate
certain processes and biochemical changes. It’s like a mailman that carries
information for a specific individual. It must be specific, because if it is a
mail you don’t want your letter to be read by somebody else, isn’t it? Just like
hormones, they must land on the right place for an appropriate action to take
place. Target cells could be near or far from the point of the hormone’s
origin, that’s why the speed of travel and effectively is also varied. Some may
take some minutes and even hours for it to be effective. Unlike nerve impulses
that can travel in split second.
Vital
tissues of the body that can produce these chemical messengers are
anterior and posterior pituitary, thymus, pineal, thyroid and parathyroid, pancreas, adrenalcortex and medulla, ovaries and testes.
Anatomic Position of the Endocrine Glands
Another
substance related to hormones are carrier proteins. Carrier proteins help in
transporting hormones (e.g. steroidal and thyroid hormones) to go to their
designated cell of action. Hormones that are peptide in structure do not need the use of transport proteins so
they are moving throughout the body system unbound.
Changes
in the concentration of certain hormones and carrier proteins from their
reference values may help physicians in identifying endocrine disorders (e.g.
cushing’s syndrome and addison’s disease).
Each Endocrine gland and related disorders will be discussed thoroughly in my next blog post. So be sure to keep in touch :)
Each Endocrine gland and related disorders will be discussed thoroughly in my next blog post. So be sure to keep in touch :)
References:
Calbreath,
D. F., “Clinical Chemistry a Fundamental Textbook,” 14:304-308
Photo
credit:
WANT TO BE AN ENDOCRINOLOGIST.......... TRY THE
ENDOCRINE HORMONES GAME SHOW...
Snapshots:
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