The Gonadal Function of the Brain FREE

THOSE OF US WHOSE education in physiology included the precept that "The Pituitary Gland is the Leader of the Endocrine Orchestra" may be concerned to learn that the standing of the "Leader" is being subverted and that the aphorism may be relegated to the status of a cliche in time to come. From the neuroendocrinologists come persistent insinuations that a more precise description of current knowledge is that the pituitary is the gallbladder of the brain, so large has been the number of substances isolated from brain tissue which function to control the secretions of this gland. Aside from these neurohumors, there is a growing body of evidence that the pituitary frequently may be bypassed by the neuroendocrine function of the brain. Two such developments will be outlined here although the interested reader may wish to read a more detailed synopsis such as in the recently published Physiology of Puberty