PHY3181 Lecture 7: Reproductive brain 1
Document Summary
How the brain regulates hormones + how hormones feedback at the brain to regulate physiology. Closed loop negative feedback systems - homeostatic. Must be in pulses to control the gonadotrophins (lh, fsh) and therefore the gonads. But the generator of gnrh pulses is not known. Every pulse of gnrh is associated with a lh pulse. Fsh doesn"t get secreted in pulses but still dependent on gnrh pulses. Continuous gnrh does not stimulate lh or fsh. Hypothalamus = gnrh synthesis: hypothalamus controls all activities necessary for homeostasis eating, drinking, reproduction. Anterior pituitary = gnrh action: pituitary has rich vascular network portal veins. Sparsely distributed throughout pre-optic area + anterior hypothalamus (mostly located in the medial pre-optic area) Synthesised at the very front of the hypothalamus. Unique mechanism of talking to other gnrh neurons (dendrites: talk to each other through dendrites. Pulses can be triggered via terminal on terminal interaction.