Oncology & Cancer

TGF-beta pathway protects against uterine cancer

Two new mouse models of uterine cancer shed light on how this disease—the most common gynecological cancer in the U.S. - happens. Led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, the team of scientists found that the Transforming ...

Overweight & Obesity

Exposure to cold temperatures can help boost weight loss

Regular exposure to mild cold may be a healthy and sustainable way to help people lose weight, according to researchers writing in the Cell Press publication Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism on January 22nd. On the flip ...

Medical research

Estrogen's effects on fat depends on where it's located

Women have long bemoaned the fact that they tend to store more fat than men, particularly after menopause. Although it's well established that estrogen, the primary sex hormone present during women's childbearing years, is ...

Diabetes

Researchers observe new mechanism for diabetes resolution

Though existing research has shown gastric bypass surgery resolves type 2 diabetes, the reason has remained unclear. A research team, led by Nicholas Stylopoulos, MD, Boston Children's Hospital's Division of Endocrinology, ...

Medical research

How belly fat differs from thigh fat—and why it matters

Men tend to store fat in the abdominal area, but don't usually have much in the way of hips or thighs. Women, on the other hand, are more often pear-shaped—storing more fat on their hips and thighs than in the belly. Why ...

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Endocrinology

Endocrinology (from Greek ἔνδον, endo, "within"; κρῑνω, krīnō, "to separate"; and -λογία, -logia) is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions called hormones, the integration of developmental events such as proliferation, growth, and differentiation (including histogenesis and organogenesis) and the coordination of metabolism, respiration, excretion, movement, reproduction, and sensory perception depend on chemical cues, substances synthesized and secreted by specialized cells.

Endocrinology is concerned with the study of the biosynthesis, storage, chemistry, and physiological function of hormones and with the cells of the endocrine glands and tissues that secrete them.

The endocrine system consists of several glands, all and in different parts of the body, that secrete hormones directly into the blood rather than into a duct system. Hormones have many different functions and modes of action; one hormone may have several effects on different target organs, and, conversely, one target organ may be affected by more than one hormone.

In the original 1902 definition by Bayliss and Starling (see below), they specified that, to be classified as a hormone, a chemical must be produced by an organ, be released (in small amounts) into the blood, and be transported by the blood to a distant organ to exert its specific function. This definition holds for most "classical" hormones, but there are also paracrine mechanisms (chemical communication between cells within a tissue or organ), autocrine signals (a chemical that acts on the same cell), and intracrine signals (a chemical that acts within the same cell). A neuroendocrine signal is a "classical" hormone that is released into the blood by a neurosecretory neuron (see article on neuroendocrinology).

Hormones act by binding to specific receptors in the target organ. As Baulieu notes, a receptor has at least two basic constituents:

Between these is a "transduction mechanism" in which hormone binding induces allosteric modification that, in turn, produces the appropriate response.

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