growth hormone or somatotropic hormone (STH), which stimulates protein production, inhibits insulin, and stimulates the hydrolysis of fats in adipose tissues. Too little or too much STH in children causes children to become midgets or giants,
respectively, where the adult has a well-proportioned but much smaller or larger body that normal. Too much STH in adults causes acromegaly in which hands, feet, and facial features become abnormally enlarged.
There are three hormones released by the anterior pituitary that target endocrine tissues. The gonadotropic hormones include follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), which stimulates growth of ovarian follicles and of seminiferous tubules in the testes, and luteinizing hormone (LH), which stimulates secretion of the sex hormones by the gonads and stimulates the conversion of follicles into copora lutea. Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) stimulates the adrenal cortex. Thyrotropic hormone stimulates the thyroid. The anterior pituitary regulates the activities of these tissues through the process of feedback: low levels of the three sets of target tissues' hormones stimulate the anterior pituitary to secrete its stimulatory hormones while high levels of the three sets of tissues' hormones inhibit the anterior pituitary's secretion of its stimulatory hormones.
Connected to the hypothalamus by a stalk, the posterior pituitary serves as a storage area for two hormones which are actually secreted by the hypothalamus. Oxytocin stimulates contraction of the uterine wall and the release of milk into the
