SAQ

1. Define a releasing and a tropic hormone.

2. Name the major endocrine glands and their hormonal product or products.

3. Explain the chemical nature of and characteristics of peptide and steroid hormones.

4. Name the key steps in endocrine signalling.

5. What is an example a hormone that is synthesised as an amine-derived hormone but

acts as a steroid hormone? Name the hormone and describe this phenomenon.

6. Map out and integrate the actions of insulin on the utilisation and storage of glucose,
free fatty acids and amino acid by hepatocytes, skeletal muscle, and adipose tissue
during the fed state.

7. Map out and integrate the actions of the counterregulatory hormone glucagon on the
utilisation of glucose, the sparing of glucose and utilisation of free fatty acids and
amino acids by hepatocytes, skeletal muscle, and adipocytes during the fasting state.

8. What are the key steps in the glucose induced insulin secretory pathways of the
pancreatic beta-cells?

9. What are the key processes involved in brining glucose levels back into where it was
before a glucose load in an oral glucose tolerance test?

10. What are incretin hormones and what roles do they play in glucose homeostasis?

11. What are the key molecular mechanisms that play important roles in lowering blood
glucose level from the circulation once insulin is secreted?

12. Describe the structure and composition of the pituitary glands.

13. Describe the HPA pathway and the different endocrine tissues involved.

14. Describe the anatomy and histology of the thyroid gland, including the structure of the
thyroid follicle.

15. Explain how thyroid hormones are synthesized within the thyroid glands.

16. Draw a schematic of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis to show how TSH

regulates thyroid function and how thyroid hormones feedback to regulate the axis.

17. What are thyroid binding proteins and what role do they plan in the stability of thyroid
hormones.

18. Describe the anatomy of the adrenal gland.

19. Describe the mechanisms of action of glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids.

20. Describe the multiple actions of cortisol.

21. Describe the regulation and actions of aldosterone.