Role of Different Parts of the Brain as Regulators of the Pituitary-Adrenal System

Abstract

The hypothalamus occupies a special place among the structures of the brain for it contains the centers which control the hormonal functions of the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland. Because of its “geographical” position this phylogenetically old region of the brain is a part of two systems of structures: the limbic formations of the telencephalon and the hypothalamus, on the one hand, and the hypothalamus and mesencephalon on the other (Nauta, 1956, 1960). If the hypothalamic region is looked at from this point of view, it can be considered to be the nodal point of a wide nerve chain stretching from the cerebral hemispheres caudally to the lower boundary of the mesencephalon. Its functional state is under the constant influence of the centers of the telencephalic limbic system and the mesencephalic reticular formation (Harris, 1956, 1958; Gloor, 1956; Green, 1956, 1958; Nauta, 1956, 1958, 1960; Lundberg, 1960; Grashchenkov, 1963; Allikmets, 1964; Tonkikh, 1968).