Category: Neuroscience
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Carotid body glomus cells mediate essential reflex responses to arterial blood hypoxia
Glomus cells are the cell type mainly located in the carotid bodies and aortic bodies. Glomus type I cells are peripheral chemoreceptors which sense the oxygen, carbon dioxide and pH levels of the blood. When there is a decrease in the blood’s pH, a decrease in oxygen (pO2), or an increase in carbon dioxide (pCO2), the carotid bodies and the aortic bodies signal the dorsal…
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Adenohypophysis regulates several physiological processes, including stress, growth, reproduction, and lactation
A major organ of the endocrine system, the anterior pituitary (also called the adenohypophysis or pars anterior) is the glandular, anterior lobe that together with the posterior lobe (posterior pituitary, or the neurohypophysis) makes up the pituitary gland (hypophysis). The anterior pituitary regulates several physiological processes, including stress, growth, reproduction, and lactation. Proper functioning of the anterior pituitary and of the organs it regulates can often be ascertained via blood tests that measure hormone levels. Structure The pituitary gland sits in a…
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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…
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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.…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
