What's the difference between releasing hormones and tropic hormones?












1












$begingroup$


I've been reading my textbook and two terms have appeared that, after a bit of looking, I still can't seem to be able to distinguish. Here's what the textbook says (McGraw Hill Bio 12, 2011):




After receiving signals from various sensors in the body, the
hypothalamus secretes what are referred to as releasing hormones,
which often travel to the pituitary gland. The releasing hormones
stimulate the pituitary gland to secrete hormones that act on other
endocrine glands. Hormones that stimulate endocrine glands to release
other hormones are called tropic hormones. (pg. 394)




From the work I've done, it all seems to indicate that releasing hormones regulate the secretion of other hormones, and that tropic hormones target and stimulate other endocrine glands (to release hormones). And yet my textbook appears to use the terms separately later on as if they're related rather than identical (e.g.: "the pituitary gland is controlled by the hypothalamus via releasing hormones and it secretes tropic hormones" (pg. 396)). So are they identical? And if not, what distinguishes between them?










share|improve this question









$endgroup$

















    1












    $begingroup$


    I've been reading my textbook and two terms have appeared that, after a bit of looking, I still can't seem to be able to distinguish. Here's what the textbook says (McGraw Hill Bio 12, 2011):




    After receiving signals from various sensors in the body, the
    hypothalamus secretes what are referred to as releasing hormones,
    which often travel to the pituitary gland. The releasing hormones
    stimulate the pituitary gland to secrete hormones that act on other
    endocrine glands. Hormones that stimulate endocrine glands to release
    other hormones are called tropic hormones. (pg. 394)




    From the work I've done, it all seems to indicate that releasing hormones regulate the secretion of other hormones, and that tropic hormones target and stimulate other endocrine glands (to release hormones). And yet my textbook appears to use the terms separately later on as if they're related rather than identical (e.g.: "the pituitary gland is controlled by the hypothalamus via releasing hormones and it secretes tropic hormones" (pg. 396)). So are they identical? And if not, what distinguishes between them?










    share|improve this question









    $endgroup$















      1












      1








      1





      $begingroup$


      I've been reading my textbook and two terms have appeared that, after a bit of looking, I still can't seem to be able to distinguish. Here's what the textbook says (McGraw Hill Bio 12, 2011):




      After receiving signals from various sensors in the body, the
      hypothalamus secretes what are referred to as releasing hormones,
      which often travel to the pituitary gland. The releasing hormones
      stimulate the pituitary gland to secrete hormones that act on other
      endocrine glands. Hormones that stimulate endocrine glands to release
      other hormones are called tropic hormones. (pg. 394)




      From the work I've done, it all seems to indicate that releasing hormones regulate the secretion of other hormones, and that tropic hormones target and stimulate other endocrine glands (to release hormones). And yet my textbook appears to use the terms separately later on as if they're related rather than identical (e.g.: "the pituitary gland is controlled by the hypothalamus via releasing hormones and it secretes tropic hormones" (pg. 396)). So are they identical? And if not, what distinguishes between them?










      share|improve this question









      $endgroup$




      I've been reading my textbook and two terms have appeared that, after a bit of looking, I still can't seem to be able to distinguish. Here's what the textbook says (McGraw Hill Bio 12, 2011):




      After receiving signals from various sensors in the body, the
      hypothalamus secretes what are referred to as releasing hormones,
      which often travel to the pituitary gland. The releasing hormones
      stimulate the pituitary gland to secrete hormones that act on other
      endocrine glands. Hormones that stimulate endocrine glands to release
      other hormones are called tropic hormones. (pg. 394)




      From the work I've done, it all seems to indicate that releasing hormones regulate the secretion of other hormones, and that tropic hormones target and stimulate other endocrine glands (to release hormones). And yet my textbook appears to use the terms separately later on as if they're related rather than identical (e.g.: "the pituitary gland is controlled by the hypothalamus via releasing hormones and it secretes tropic hormones" (pg. 396)). So are they identical? And if not, what distinguishes between them?







      endocrinology






      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question











      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question










      asked 4 hours ago









      KorvexiusKorvexius

      425




      425






















          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          2












          $begingroup$

          The releasing hormones could also be considered tropic hormones, and indeed they fit the definition as you noticed, but aren't usually named as such.



          The special thing about the ones your textbook is specifically highlighting as releasing hormones is that they communicate from the hypothalamus to the pituitary through the hypophyseal portal system, vessels that travel directly from the hypothalamus to the anterior pituitary.



          Therefore, they aren't really released into the broader circulation (they can get there, but they'd be in too low a concentration). They are easily identified in a list of hormone because they all share a naming convention where they are called "____-releasing hormone" and their primary function is to cause the pituitary to release whatever is in the "_____".



          In terms of overall neuroendocrine function, the "releasing" hormones all cause release of tropic hormones, which in turn cause release of hormones that affect other tissues.



          Therefore, the sequence is releasing -> tropic -> non-tropic. They could have been named something else, like "primary tropic" and "secondary tropic" but this terminology keeps them separate as "tropic hormones that cause release of other tropic hormones."






          share|improve this answer









          $endgroup$













            Your Answer





            StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
            return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
            StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
            StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
            });
            });
            }, "mathjax-editing");

            StackExchange.ready(function() {
            var channelOptions = {
            tags: "".split(" "),
            id: "375"
            };
            initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

            StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
            // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
            if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
            StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
            createEditor();
            });
            }
            else {
            createEditor();
            }
            });

            function createEditor() {
            StackExchange.prepareEditor({
            heartbeatType: 'answer',
            autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
            convertImagesToLinks: false,
            noModals: true,
            showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
            reputationToPostImages: null,
            bindNavPrevention: true,
            postfix: "",
            imageUploader: {
            brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
            contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
            allowUrls: true
            },
            noCode: true, onDemand: true,
            discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
            ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
            });


            }
            });














            draft saved

            draft discarded


















            StackExchange.ready(
            function () {
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fbiology.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f82188%2fwhats-the-difference-between-releasing-hormones-and-tropic-hormones%23new-answer', 'question_page');
            }
            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown

























            1 Answer
            1






            active

            oldest

            votes








            1 Answer
            1






            active

            oldest

            votes









            active

            oldest

            votes






            active

            oldest

            votes









            2












            $begingroup$

            The releasing hormones could also be considered tropic hormones, and indeed they fit the definition as you noticed, but aren't usually named as such.



            The special thing about the ones your textbook is specifically highlighting as releasing hormones is that they communicate from the hypothalamus to the pituitary through the hypophyseal portal system, vessels that travel directly from the hypothalamus to the anterior pituitary.



            Therefore, they aren't really released into the broader circulation (they can get there, but they'd be in too low a concentration). They are easily identified in a list of hormone because they all share a naming convention where they are called "____-releasing hormone" and their primary function is to cause the pituitary to release whatever is in the "_____".



            In terms of overall neuroendocrine function, the "releasing" hormones all cause release of tropic hormones, which in turn cause release of hormones that affect other tissues.



            Therefore, the sequence is releasing -> tropic -> non-tropic. They could have been named something else, like "primary tropic" and "secondary tropic" but this terminology keeps them separate as "tropic hormones that cause release of other tropic hormones."






            share|improve this answer









            $endgroup$


















              2












              $begingroup$

              The releasing hormones could also be considered tropic hormones, and indeed they fit the definition as you noticed, but aren't usually named as such.



              The special thing about the ones your textbook is specifically highlighting as releasing hormones is that they communicate from the hypothalamus to the pituitary through the hypophyseal portal system, vessels that travel directly from the hypothalamus to the anterior pituitary.



              Therefore, they aren't really released into the broader circulation (they can get there, but they'd be in too low a concentration). They are easily identified in a list of hormone because they all share a naming convention where they are called "____-releasing hormone" and their primary function is to cause the pituitary to release whatever is in the "_____".



              In terms of overall neuroendocrine function, the "releasing" hormones all cause release of tropic hormones, which in turn cause release of hormones that affect other tissues.



              Therefore, the sequence is releasing -> tropic -> non-tropic. They could have been named something else, like "primary tropic" and "secondary tropic" but this terminology keeps them separate as "tropic hormones that cause release of other tropic hormones."






              share|improve this answer









              $endgroup$
















                2












                2








                2





                $begingroup$

                The releasing hormones could also be considered tropic hormones, and indeed they fit the definition as you noticed, but aren't usually named as such.



                The special thing about the ones your textbook is specifically highlighting as releasing hormones is that they communicate from the hypothalamus to the pituitary through the hypophyseal portal system, vessels that travel directly from the hypothalamus to the anterior pituitary.



                Therefore, they aren't really released into the broader circulation (they can get there, but they'd be in too low a concentration). They are easily identified in a list of hormone because they all share a naming convention where they are called "____-releasing hormone" and their primary function is to cause the pituitary to release whatever is in the "_____".



                In terms of overall neuroendocrine function, the "releasing" hormones all cause release of tropic hormones, which in turn cause release of hormones that affect other tissues.



                Therefore, the sequence is releasing -> tropic -> non-tropic. They could have been named something else, like "primary tropic" and "secondary tropic" but this terminology keeps them separate as "tropic hormones that cause release of other tropic hormones."






                share|improve this answer









                $endgroup$



                The releasing hormones could also be considered tropic hormones, and indeed they fit the definition as you noticed, but aren't usually named as such.



                The special thing about the ones your textbook is specifically highlighting as releasing hormones is that they communicate from the hypothalamus to the pituitary through the hypophyseal portal system, vessels that travel directly from the hypothalamus to the anterior pituitary.



                Therefore, they aren't really released into the broader circulation (they can get there, but they'd be in too low a concentration). They are easily identified in a list of hormone because they all share a naming convention where they are called "____-releasing hormone" and their primary function is to cause the pituitary to release whatever is in the "_____".



                In terms of overall neuroendocrine function, the "releasing" hormones all cause release of tropic hormones, which in turn cause release of hormones that affect other tissues.



                Therefore, the sequence is releasing -> tropic -> non-tropic. They could have been named something else, like "primary tropic" and "secondary tropic" but this terminology keeps them separate as "tropic hormones that cause release of other tropic hormones."







                share|improve this answer












                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer










                answered 2 hours ago









                Bryan KrauseBryan Krause

                19.4k23256




                19.4k23256






























                    draft saved

                    draft discarded




















































                    Thanks for contributing an answer to Biology Stack Exchange!


                    • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                    But avoid



                    • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                    • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                    Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.


                    To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




                    draft saved


                    draft discarded














                    StackExchange.ready(
                    function () {
                    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fbiology.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f82188%2fwhats-the-difference-between-releasing-hormones-and-tropic-hormones%23new-answer', 'question_page');
                    }
                    );

                    Post as a guest















                    Required, but never shown





















































                    Required, but never shown














                    Required, but never shown












                    Required, but never shown







                    Required, but never shown

































                    Required, but never shown














                    Required, but never shown












                    Required, but never shown







                    Required, but never shown







                    Popular posts from this blog

                    الفوسفات في المغرب

                    Four equal circles intersect: What is the area of the small shaded portion and its height

                    جامعة ليفربول