Category: Hormones
-
Cold-Food Powder or Five Minerals Powder, poisonous psychoactive drug popular during the Six Dynasties (220–589) and Tang dynasty (618–907)
Cold-Food Powder (Chinese: 寒食散; pinyin: hánshísǎn; Wade–Giles: han-shih-san) or Five Minerals Powder (Chinese: 五石散; pinyin: wǔshísǎn; Wade–Giles: wu-shih-san) was a poisonous psychoactive drug popular during the Six Dynasties (220–589) and Tang dynasty (618–907) periods of China. Terminology Both Chinese names hanshisan and wushisan have the suffix -san (散, lit. “fall apart; scattered”), which means “medicine in powdered form” in Traditional Chinese medicine. Wushi (lit. “five rock”) refers to the component mineral drugs, typically: fluorite, quartz, red bole clay, stalactite, and sulfur. Hanshi (lit. “cold food”) refers to eating cold foods and bathing in cold water…
-
The transforming growth factor beta receptors
a family of serine/threonine kinase receptors involved in TGF beta signaling pathway
-
Adenosine
Adenosine (symbol A) is an organic compound that occurs widely in nature in the form of diverse derivatives. The molecule consists of an adenine attached to a ribose via a β-N9–glycosidic bond. Adenosine is one of the four nucleoside building blocks of RNA (and its derivative deoxyadenosine is a building block of DNA), which are essential for all life. Its derivatives include the energy carriers adenosine mono-, di-, and triphosphate, also…
-
Mycoestrogens are xenoestrogens produced by fungi. They are sometimes referred to as mycotoxins.
Among important mycoestrogens are zearalenone, zearalenol and zearalanol. Although all of these can be produced by various Fusarium species, zearalenol and zearalanol may also be produced endogenously in ruminants that have ingested zearalenone. Alpha-zearalanol is also produced semisynthetically, for veterinary use; such use is prohibited in the European Union. Sources Mycoestrogens are produced by various strains of fungi, many of which fall…
-
Cells in the APUD system may include Juxtaglomerular cells (JG cells), the renin producing cells in the kidney
Juxtaglomerular cells (JG cells), also known as juxtaglomerular granular cells are cells in the kidney that synthesize, store, and secrete the enzyme renin. They are specialized smooth muscle cells mainly in the walls of the afferent arterioles (and some in the efferent arterioles) that deliver blood to the glomerulus. In synthesizing renin, they play a critical role in the renin–angiotensin system and thus in autoregulation of the kidney. Juxtaglomerular cells secrete renin in…
-
The adrenal medulla is the principal site of the conversion of the amino acid tyrosine into the catecholamines; epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine
The adrenal medulla (Latin: medulla glandulae suprarenalis) is part of the adrenal gland. It is located at the center of the gland, being surrounded by the adrenal cortex. It is the innermost part of the adrenal gland, consisting of chromaffin cells that secrete catecholamines, including epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine (noradrenaline), and a small amount of dopamine, in response to stimulation by sympathetic preganglionic neurons. Structure The adrenal medulla consists of irregularly shaped cells…
-
G cells or gastrin cells secrete gastrin. They works in conjunction with gastric chief cells and parietal cells. The peptide hormone bombesin also stimulates gastrin from G cells.
In anatomy, the G cell or gastrin cell, is a type of cell in the stomach and duodenum that secretes gastrin. It works in conjunction with gastric chief cells and parietal cells. G cells are found deep within the pyloric glands of the stomach antrum, and occasionally in the pancreas and duodenum. The vagus nerve innervates the G cells. Gastrin-releasing peptide is released by the post-ganglionic fibers of the vagus nerve onto G cells…
-
Pulmonary neuroendocrine cells
Neuroendocrine cells are cells that receive neuronal input (through neurotransmitters released by nerve cells or neurosecretory cells) and, as a consequence of this input, release messenger molecules (hormones) into the blood. In this way they bring about an integration between the nervous system and the endocrine system, a process known as neuroendocrine integration. An example of a neuroendocrine cell is a cell…
-
Enterochromaffin (EC) cells aka Kulchitsky cells
Enterochromaffin (EC) cells (also known as Kulchitsky cells) are a type of enteroendocrine cell, and neuroendocrine cell. They reside alongside the epithelium lining the lumen of the digestive tract and play a crucial role in gastrointestinal regulation, particularly intestinal motility and secretion. They were discovered by Nikolai Kulchitsky. EC cells modulate neuron signalling in the enteric nervous system (ENS) via the secretion of the neurotransmitter serotonin and other peptides.…
-
Chromaffin cells aka pheochromocytes
Chromaffin cells, also called pheochromocytes (or phaeochromocytes), are neuroendocrine cells found mostly in the medulla of the adrenal glands in mammals. These cells serve a variety of functions such as serving as a response to stress, monitoring carbon dioxide and oxygen concentrations in the body, maintenance of respiration and the regulation of blood pressure. They are in close proximity to pre-synaptic sympathetic ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system,…
-
Homovanillic acid (HVC) and Vanillylmandelic acid (VMA)
Homovanillic acid (HVA) is a major catecholamine metabolite that is produced by a consecutive action of monoamine oxidase and catechol-O-methyltransferase on dopamine. Homovanillic acid is used as a reagent to detect oxidative enzymes, and is associated with dopamine levels in the brain. In psychiatry and neuroscience, brain and cerebrospinal fluid levels of HVA are measured as a marker of metabolic stress caused by 2-deoxy-D-glucose. HVA presence supports a diagnosis of neuroblastoma and malignant pheochromocytoma. Fasting plasma levels of HVA are known to be…
-
Catecholamine (CA)
A catecholamine (abbreviated CA) is a monoamine neurotransmitter, an organic compound that has a catechol (benzene with two hydroxyl side groups next to each other) and a side-chain amine. Fitzgerald, P. A. (2011). “Chapter 11. Adrenal Medulla and Paraganglia”. In Gardner, D. G.; Shoback, D. (eds.). Greenspan’s Basic & Clinical Endocrinology (9th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Retrieved October 26, 2011. Catechol, not to be confused with Catechin which is also sometimes called catechol, can be either…
-
Gastric inhibitory peptide aka GIP and receptors
Gastric inhibitory polypeptide or gastric inhibitory peptide also known as glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide abbreviated as GIP, is an inhibiting hormone of the secretin family of hormones. While it is a weak inhibitor of gastric acid secretion, its main role is to stimulate insulin secretion. GIP, along with glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), belongs to a class of molecules referred to as incretins. Synthesis and transport GIP is derived from a 153-amino acid proprotein encoded by…
-
Gastrin-releasing peptide aka GRP
Gastrin-releasing peptide, also known as GRP, is a neuropeptide, a regulatory molecule that has been implicated in a number of physiological and pathophysiological processes. Most notably, GRP stimulates the release of gastrin from the G cells of the stomach. The gene from which GRP is derived encodes a number of bombesin-like peptides. Its 148-amino acid preproprotein, following cleavage of a signal peptide, is further processed to…
