Medical Word of the Day

Neuroendocrinology: Having to do with the interactions between the nervous system and the endocrine system.

In the human body, two systems control all physiologic processes. One of these systems is neurologic while the other is endocrine. The nervous system exerts point-to-point control through nerves. It sends messages, as if by hard-wired telephone. Nervous control is electrochemical in nature and is rapid. The endocrine system broadcasts its messages to essentially all cells by the secretion of hormones into the blood and extracellular fluids. Like a radio broadcast, it requires a receiver to get the message. To receive endocrine messages, cells must bear a receptor for the hormone being broadcast in order to respond to it. The nervous and endocrine systems often act together to regulate the physiologic processes of the human body and those intimate interactions constitute neuroendocrinology.