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The Role of Neurotransmitters in Growth Hormone Secretion

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Basic and Clinical Aspects of Growth Hormone

Part of the book series: Serono Symposia, USA ((SERONOSYMP))

Abstract

It is now a tenet of neuroendocrinology that the secretion of anterior pituitary (AP) hormones is regulated by the central nervous system (CNS) through a family of hypophysiotropic neuropeptides, the releasing and inhibiting hormones. In addition, the neuroregulation of a given AP hormone is influenced by a host of neurotransmitters and neuropeptides, which at hypothalamic and suprahypothalamic levels provide intermediate and obligatory links between hypophysiotropic and both exogenous and endogenous influences on hormone secretion (1,2), Figure 1 depicts schematically how neurotransmitter-neurohormonal interactions may occur at the hypothalamic level. The complexity of the system stems from the abundance of different neurotransmitter and neuropeptide neurons present in the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH) and the various ways they may reciprocally interact. Another reason for complexity is the phenomenon of coexistence, which ultimately results from cotransmission, i.e., occurrence and then release of two transmitter substances present in the same nerve endings (3). Though cotransmission undoubtedly provides greater versatility and sophistication to the vocabulary of synaptic transmission (3), it compounds the understanding of the physiology and pathophysiology of neuroendocrine control.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Pharmacology and Biomedicine, University of Milan and Turin, Italy

    Eugenio E. Muller, Vittorio Locatelli, Silvano G. Cella, Sandro Loche, Ezio Ghigo, Daniela Cocchi, Franco Camanni & Carlo Pintor

  2. Institute of Pediatrics, University of Cagliari, Italy

    Eugenio E. Muller, Vittorio Locatelli, Silvano G. Cella, Sandro Loche, Ezio Ghigo, Daniela Cocchi, Franco Camanni & Carlo Pintor

Authors
  1. Eugenio E. Muller
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  2. Vittorio Locatelli
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  3. Silvano G. Cella
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  4. Sandro Loche
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  5. Ezio Ghigo
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  6. Daniela Cocchi
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  7. Franco Camanni
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  8. Carlo Pintor
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA

    Barry B. Bercu

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© 1988 Plenum Press, New York

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Muller, E.E. et al. (1988). The Role of Neurotransmitters in Growth Hormone Secretion. In: Bercu, B.B. (eds) Basic and Clinical Aspects of Growth Hormone. Serono Symposia, USA. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5505-2_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5505-2_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-5507-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-5505-2

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