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Endocrinology

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Human Physiology

Abstract

Functions of hormones. In the classical definition hormones are internal secretions, chemicals produced by specialized gland cells and released into the bloodstream to be distributed within the body. Endocrinology is the field of physiology concerned with these secretions. The hormones serve as chemical carriers of information; when a hormone reaches its particular target organ it acts to produce specific effects. This specificity is achieved by receptor molecules in the cells; only the cells of the target organ have receptors for the corresponding hormone and are thus able to “read” the chemically coded information.

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Authors
  1. W. Wuttke
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Physiologisches Institut der Universität, Röntgenring 9, D-8700, Würzburg, Germany

    Robert F. Schmidt Ph.D. (Professor Dr. med.) (Professor Dr. med.)

  2. Physiologisches Institut der Universität, Saarstraße 21, D-6500, Mainz, Germany

    Gerhrad Thews

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© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Wuttke, W. (1989). Endocrinology. In: Schmidt, R.F., Thews, G. (eds) Human Physiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73831-9_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73831-9_17

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-73833-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-73831-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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