biopsych 12

-hormones are directly responsible for determining which sex organs we will have

-hormones play an important role on sexual behavior

• -determining which sex organs we will have
• -important role in sexual behavior
• -play importan role in pregnancy, child birth, maternal behavior, and lactation
• -important role in pair-bonding
• -critically involved in stress and arousal
• -play a vital role in feeding and drinking behavior

-interaction between neurons, glands, hormones and their receptors on organs including the brain

organs whose primary function is to release hormones

• -stomach
• -liver
• -intestines

*it is not their primary function

• -reach target organs where they interact with receptors
• *causes series of event to occur within cell

- SOME are packaged into vesicles and are released by neurons as a result of action potentials

• -they are meant to travel very long distances
• *blood stream

-hormones are in the circulation for a much longer time period and have a slower offset of function

-amino acid derived

-peptide and protein hormones

-steroid hormones

-amino-acids are the building blocks of proteins

-synthesized in just a few steps

adrenal gland

NT: norepinephrine and dopamine

hormones: epinephrine

-small and long chains of amino acids (respectively)

-synthesized from the fat molecule cholesterol. 

-plays a significant role in sexual differentation and sexual behavior.

*because they derived from lipids they can cross the cell membrane and interact with everything inside

-referred as master gland

-releases tropic hormones whose purpose is to cause the release of hormones from other glands and organs

• *made up of 2 glads that fuse during development
• **anterior pituatry and posterior pituatary

-develops from same embryonic tissue as the roof of your mouth

-while development occurs, this tissue "pinches" off and moves upward next to the posterior pituatary

-develops from a small outgrowth of the hypothalamus (region of diencephalon) "dangles" down from the hypothalamus by a stalk

• posterior gland
• *paraventricular nucleus 
• *supraoptic nucleus

-oxytocin

-vasopressin

*are packaged into vesicles and transported to axon terminals in posterior pituatary gland

action potential

containing oxytocin and vasopressin are release directly into blood stream

*these cells are calleds nuerosecretery

-social behavior

-uterine contractions

-responsible for milk "letdown"

-maternal behavior

-pair-bonding

-maybe even everyday social behavior and the concept of trust

• -it can induce labor, a synthetic oxytocin is given
• *pitocin
• **might be a circumstance in which it is needed to induce labor

--feeding their young wiht milk

• -oxytocin contracts the smooth muscle layer surrounding the alveoli to squeeze the newly-produced milk into the duct system
• *necessary for a let-down, milk ejection relflex to occur

• oxytocin can be released by cues
• *sound of the baby crying
• *time of day, certain time which they are accustomed on releaseing
• *sitting at work daydreaming of the baby

suckling alone can cause activiation of areas of the brain involved in oxytocin release 

*experiment

• -study rodents
• -mothers crouch over their litter to nurse
• -done in a "nest"
• -if pups are dispersed from the nest, mother will retrive the pups by picking them up wth her mouth and carryingt hem back

-time spend crouching to nurse

-time it takes to retrieve pups after dispersal

-how many pups are retrieved

*new mothers will retrieve pups from different mothers

this study illustrates that an area that makes oxytocin s important for maternal behavior

Problem: it does not show that oxytocin itself is involved

study illustrates that "good" mothers ahve many oxytocin receptors in certain regions of the brain while bad mothers have fewer

results: females with larger numebr of oxytocin might make better mothers

*same study but this time it blocks oxytocin receptors

-once the drug wears off "good" mothers return to their regular duties

• -oxytocin is released in both males and females during orgasm
• *oxytocin is important for pair bonding

• -monogamus
• *it takes one bout of copulation or
• * cohabition of 24 hrs

• -promiscuous
• *wont stay faithful no matter how much copulation they have

-in prarie voles, the formation of pair-bonded depends on oxytocin

• -in this experiment oxytocin anatagonists prevented formation of pairbond even after 24 hrs of cohabition or copulation
• *once given oxytocin the pair bonded

oxytocin receptors than prarie, thus making them promiscuous

-in this experiment, montane voles produce oxytocin receptors in key areas of the brain just after giving birth

-other posterior hormone

-it has effects on physiology

• -acts on kidneys to conserve water, concentrate urine and increase blood pressure
• *also known as anti-diuretic hormone

• block the release of both vasopressin and oxytocin
• *during heaving night of dirnking there will be many trips to the bathroom
• * a shot of whiskey is a remedy for early labor

-it plays a critical role in paternal behavior

-injection of vasopressin to non-monogamous males decreases their aggression towards their pups and increased their paternal behavior

gave more money to the trustee, thus showed more trust because of the oxytocin