6. (6pts)A space alien from the planet Terrestria comes to you with a supply of

Question

6. (6pts)A space alien from the planet Terrestria comes to you with a supply of small laboratory animals. They want to know the function of a gland found in the trachea region called xenoid. (a) Given your vast knowledge of the endocrine and nervous system briefly describe one experiment that you can use to determine if the gland is regulated by the nervous or endocrine system. (b) Given that the hormone produced by this substance is hydrophobic and is a prehormone, propose a mechanism of action for this hormone

Explanation / Answer

a) A gland can be under endocrine control or neural control. When the gland is under endocrine control, release of hormones occur in response to stimulating factor . For example TSH stimulates the thyroid to produce T3 and T4 hormones.

However if the gland is under neural control then release of hormones occurs in response to stimulus from nerve fibres. For example release of catecholamines in response to sympathetic stimulation.

To determine whether the organ is under endocrine control or neural control , search for any stimulating hormone in blood that can cause release of hormones from the gland. If present then the organ is under endicrine control.

b)To know the possible organ let's look at the clues given in the question.

Clue 1:- the organ is in trachea region

Clue2:-the hormone secreted by it is hydrophobic

Clue 3:- the hormone released is prehormone

From clue one, we come to know that two glands are possible thyroid and parathyroid.

From clue 3 we don't get a definitive answer as both organs can produce prohormone.

Thus clue2 gives the answer. Out of thyroxine and parathormone , thyroxine is hydrophobic.

Thus the answer is thyroxine hormone.

MECHANISM OF ACTION

Thyroid hormones enter cells and T3 binds to thyroid receptor on nuclei. The hormone receptor complex then binds to DNA via zinc fingers and increases( or in some cases decreases) the expression of a variety of different genes that code for proteins that regulate cell function.

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