Introduction to the Endocrine System

00:02 The thyroid gland, the parathyroid gland, adrenal gland, and the pancreas are major endocrine glands in the body, having specific functions. I’ve already described the specific details of the histology of the pituitary gland and the hormonal products that that gland produces. In this lecture, you’re going to learn about the glands that I’ve listed on this particular slide. At the end of this lecture, you should have a very good understanding of how to distinguish and characterize the various types of glands, endocrine glands that I’m going to talk about. You need to understand and know the products of each of these glands, the hormones secreted and have a general idea of the general functions.

00:59 The specific details of each of these hormones and their target cells and how they interact with these target cells will be explained to you in lectures in, say an endocrinology course. On this slide, I’ve listed general functions of the endocrine organs that I’m going to describe in this lecture. I’m going to also provide in this lecture the structural components or characteristics that serve all these sorts of functions.