Human and Social Biology

... Human and Social Biology 1. The term endocrine comes from the Greek word 'endo', (meaning within), and the Greek word 'krinein', (meaning secrete). The endocrine system consists of a number of ductless glands situated around the body, which have the ability to secrete hormones directly into the blood stream. A hormone is a chemical messenger that travels through the blood to another target organ or tissue where it may influence activity, nutrition and growth. Hormones do not initiate reactions they modify the rate of those already taking place. The major endocrine glands present in every typical human are; one pituitary gland, one thyroid gland, four parathyroid glands, two adrenal glands, (suprarenal), the pancreatic islets, (islets of Langerhans), one pineal gland, one thymus gland, and either two testes in the male or two ovaries in the female. A diagram showing the location of the major endocrine organs within the human body Pituitary gland The pituitary gland

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