Hormonal Pathology🧪

This article will be discussing a very specific part of Vander’s Chapter 11 which gives a basic foundation for problem-solving when it comes to questions about irregularities in hormonal pathways.

Hyposecretion means that not enough of the hormone is being secreted, causing there to be less hormonal response (because, obviously, there is less hormone). There are two kinds of hyposecretion: primary and secondary. Primary hyposecretion is when the gland releasing the hormone is not functioning, or the hormonal synthesis pathway is inhibited in some way. Secondary hyposecretion means that the “hormone-stimulating hormone,” also known as the tropic hormone, is not stimulating the gland enough, either due to a dysfunctional tropic gland, or inhibited synthesis of tropic hormone. An example of secondary hyposecretion is if thyroid-stimulating hormone, or thyrotropin, is being released at a lower concentration, resulting in less secretion of thyroid hormone from the thyroid gland.

Differentiating between primary and secondary hyposecretion is important for diagnosis and treatment of hormonal disorders, as physicians need to know which hormone(s) to target to treat the abnormality. Before I explain how they differentiate, try to think of a way that would make sense.

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By measuring the amount of the tropic hormone, doctors can deduce if the hyposecretion is primary or secondary. Primary hyposecretion would have a normal amount of tropic hormone, while secondary would have a lower concentration of tropic hormone in the blood.

Hypersecretion, the opposite of hyposecretion, also has the same subtypes, just for over-secretion instead of under-secretion. It’s usually due to a tumor or otherwise irregular gland activity.

General concept in biology: One thing to notice about the primary/secondary wording is that primary refers to a direct cause, while secondary refers to something that was caused by something. Typically, when these words are used to describe processes, you can use this general idea to deduce what that term means. Try to think of what tertiary hyposecretion could mean (I made that up but it’s probably a thing, just not the most useful thing to diagnose because it probably has so many more effects, and would best be examined at a different angle).

Another factor that can affect the level of hormonal response presented is the responsiveness of the target organ to hormones. An example of altered hormonal responsiveness is present in type II diabetes, where the target cells have reduced responsiveness to insulin. It’s also possible for primary hyposecretion to cause type II diabetes, as maybe the insulin-secreting gland (the pancreas) may have reduced activity. Thus, type II diabetes is caused by a combination of insulin resistance and reduced insulin secretion.

Hope that was helpful! Leave any questions below.