Hormonal co-ordination in living organisms

About this lesson

This unit covers hormonal coordination in living organisms, focusing on the endocrine system in humans and plant hormones. It begins with the discovery of hormones by Starling (1905) in animals and B. Jensen (1913) in plants, then defines hormones and their characteristics. The text details the endocrine glands in man, including the pituitary gland (as the master gland with adenohypophysis and neurohypophysis), thyroid gland, parathyroid glands, adrenal glands, pancreas, sex glands, and gastrointestinal hormones. For each gland, it lists the hormones secreted, their functions, and the effects of hypo- and hypersecretion, such as dwarfism, gigantism, acromegaly, goiter, cretinism, myxedema, diabetes mellitus, and others. The unit also compares hormonal and neural coordination and explains how hormones are studied through gland removal or extracts. By the end, students should be able to determine scientific efforts in discovering hormones, explain the importance of auxins in plants, describe hormone functions and characteristics, compare exocrine and endocrine glands, identify the role of the pituitary as a master gland, explain the roles of thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal glands, and pancreas in regulating blood sugar, know effects of hypo- and hypersecretion, and compare hormonal and neural coordination.