MECHANISMS OF

HORMONE
SECRETION
Humoral Trigger

Something in the blood is being monitored. When

the level of that substance is too low, it
stimulates the release of the hormone.
Neuronal Trigger
A neuron directly stimulates the gland to cause
secretion of the hormone.
Hormonal Trigger
One endocrine gland releases a hormone that
stimulates another endocrine gland to release its
hormone.

Control of Hormones Release: Three

Mechanisms

2
Figure 25.2a-c

Humoral Trigger

Something in the blood is being

monitored. When the level of that
substance is too high or low, it
stimulates the release of the
hormone or stop its production.
Examples are insulin, glucagon,
parathyroid hormone, and
aldosterone.
When you eat, glucose gets high,
releases insulin, which tells cells to
take in the sugar. Excess sugar is
then converted to glycogen, which is

Neuronal Trigger
Examples are oxytocin, ADH
(neurohypophysis hormones) and
Epinephrine (adrenal medulla
hormone)

Hormonal Trigger
This is when one endocrine gland releases
a hormone that stimulates another
endocrine gland to release its hormone.
Examples are any of the hypothalamus or
anterior pituitary hormones, and also the
adrenal cortex (steroid) hormones (except
aldosterone) and thyroid hormone.
The hypothalamus releases a hormone
that causes the pituitary gland to release
TSH, which causes the thyroid gland to
release thyroid hormone

Synthesis and secretion of peptide

Protein and peptide hormones are

synthesized on the rough end of the

endoplasmic reticulum of the different
endocrine cells
synthesized first as larger proteins
that are not biologically active
(preprohormones) and are cleaved to
form smaller prohormones in the
endoplasmic reticulum.
transferred to the Golgi apparatus
for packaging into secretory vesicles.
Enzymes in the vesicles cleave the

Synthesis and secretion of peptide ho

The vesicles are stored within the
cytoplasm or the cell membrane until
their secretion is needed.
when the secretory vesicles fuse with
the cell membrane secretion of the
hormones occurs into the blood
stream or into the interstitial fluid.
In many cases, the stimulus
increases the cytosolic calcium
concentration caused by
depolarization of the plasma
membrane.
In other instances, stimulation of an
endocrine cell surface receptor causes
increased cyclic adenosine
monophosphate (cAMP) and

Metabolic clearance rate

The number of milliliters of plasma cleared of the
hormone per minute is called metabolic clearance
rate.
The metabolic clearance rate is calculated by the
following formula:
Metabolic clearance rate = Rate of
disappearance of hormone from the plasma /
Concentration of hormone

Hormones are cleared from the

plasma in several ways, including
(1) metabolic destruction by the tissues,
(2) binding with the tissues,
(3) excretion by the liver into the bile,
and
(4) excretion by the kidneys into the
urine.

Mechanisms of Action of Hormones

Ion ChannelLinked Receptors
G ProteinLinked Hormone Receptors
Enzyme-Linked Hormone Receptors

Ion ChannelLinked Receptors

A hormone when combined with receptors
causes a change in the structure of the receptor, usually
opening or closing a channel for one or more ions.
Some of these ion channellinked receptors open
(or close) channels for sodium ions, others for
potassium ions, others for calcium ions, and so forth.
The altered movement of these ions through the
channels causes the subsequent effects of the target
cells.

G ProteinLinked Hormone Receptor

Many hormones activate receptors that indirectly
regulate the activity of target proteins (e.g., enzymes or
ion channels) by coupling with groups of cell membrane
proteins called GTP-binding proteins (G proteins). G
proteincoupled receptors have seven transmembrane
segments that loop in and out of the cell membrane.

G proteins include three partsthe , , and

subunits. When the ligand (hormone) binds to
the extracellular part of the receptor, a
conformational change occurs in the receptor
that activates the G proteins and induces
intracellular signals that either
(1)open or close cell membrane ion channels or
(2) Change the activity of an enzyme in the

When the hormone activates the receptor, the inactive ,

, and G protein complex associates with the receptor
and is activated, with an exchange of guanosine
triphosphate (GTP) for guanosine diphosphate
(GDP). This causes the subunit (to which the GTP is
bound) to dissociate from the and subunits of the G
protein and to interact with membrane-bound target

Enzyme-linked receptors
Enzyme-linked receptors when
activated, function directly as
enzymes or are closely
associated with enzymes that
they activate.
When the hormone binds to
the extracellular part of the
receptor, an enzyme
immediately inside the cell
membrane is activated
One example of an enzymelinked receptor is the leptin
receptor.
Leptin is a hormone secreted
by fat cells it is especially

Leptin receptor exists as a

homodimer and leptin binds to
the extracellular part of the
receptor, causing
phosphorylation and activation
of the intracellular associated
janus kinase 2 (JAK2).
This causes phosphorylation of
signal transducer and activator
of transcription (STAT) proteins,
which then activates the
transcription of target genes
and the synthesis of proteins.
JAK2 phosphorylation also
activates several other enzyme
systems that mediate some of

Adenylyl Cyclase Second messengers are

cAMP
intracellular signaling
Second Messenger
molecules released by the
System
cell to trigger
physiological changes
such as proliferation,
differentiation, migration,
survival, and apoptosis.
Secondary messengers
are therefore one of the
initiating components of

Measurement of
Hormone
Concentrations in the
Radioimmunoassay
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent
Assay
Blood
Radioimmunoassay (RIA) is a very sensitive in vitro assay
technique used to measure concentrations of antigens (for
example, hormone levels in blood) by use of antibodies which
are labeled with a radioactive substance.

ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) is a platebased assay technique designed for detecting and quantifying
substances such as peptides, proteins, antibodies and
hormones.