Pituitary Gland - The Truth About Dwarfism and Gigantism

One day, an English citizen suffering from a pituitary tumor sued a pharmaceutical company. He believed that treatment with the drug from this company made him a sexual maniac. He was literally overwhelmed by thoughts about women, but, worst of all, he spent all his fortune on paying for gifts, pornographic cards and the services of “call girls”. Fortunately, the gentleman was nevertheless cured with the help of x-ray therapy, that is, radiation. And he won the trial.

The endocrine glands have long been a mystery. Gradually, the mechanism of action of these glands that make up the endocrine system began to become clearer. The point is that they do not have excretory ducts. The end products they produce - hormones - are released directly into the blood and distributed to the target organs, that is, to those organs on which the action of hormones is designed.

The endocrine glands include: the pituitary gland - the central organ of the endocrine system, which regulates the activity of all other glands, the pineal gland, the thyroid and parathyroid glands, the adrenal glands, as well as the endocrine parts of the pancreas and gonads.

The pituitary gland is located deep in the skull, in the so-called sella turcica. The hormone of the anterior pituitary gland - growth hormone (somatotropic hormone) - affects the growth and development of the entire body. With a lack of this hormone, people remain dwarfs, retaining childlike, even doll-like facial features for a long time, and then quickly acquire senile wrinkles at a very young age. Sexual development occurs with a delay, but pituitary dwarfs are quite capable of giving birth to completely normal children.

With an excess of growth hormone, people become giants with disproportionately large arms and legs, especially the hands and feet. But if a person is already an adult, and the pituitary gland still produces growth hormone in large quantities, then not the whole body grows, but only the fingers and toes, nose, and lips. The face takes on rough features: the nose becomes disproportionately large, the distance between the eyes increases, the teeth seem sparse due to the huge interdental gaps. This disease is called acromegaly.

But not everything is so hopeless. Both dwarfism, gigantism, and acromegaly are better or worse, but can be treated. The posterior lobe of the pituitary gland is responsible for muscle tone, blood pressure, uterine contraction during childbirth and the removal of fluid from the body. When there is a lack of antidiuretic hormone, a condition called diabetes insipidus occurs. In addition, the pituitary gland produces hormones that regulate the functioning of all other internal secretion organs.