The Pituitary Gland

The pituitary gland is actually two main separate glands, an anterior gland and a posterior gland. It is located at the base of the skull. The two parts control the release of different hormones and are controlled differently by the hypothalamus. The anterior pituitary gland is also known as the adenohypophysis and the posterior pituitary gland is also known as the neurohypophysis. The hormones released by the pituitary gland have such far-reaching consequences that the gland has been referred to as the 'master gland'. Many other glands in the body secrete their hormones in response to hormones released by the anterior pituitary gland. The hypothalamus plays an important role in controlling the release of hormones. It has direct control over the release of many pituitary hormones and also contains a number of detectors for circulating hormones. As already mentioned, the hypothalamus sends neuronal projections to the posterior pituitary gland.