Paragraph 8 The endocrine system.

Paragraph 8
The endocrine system.

Many glands release the substance they make via a duct, examples of such glands are sweat glands, tear gland, salivary glands.

The endocrine system is made up out of several endocrine glands. Endocrine glands produce hormones, but mostly don’t release the hormones via a duct. Hormones coordinate certain body processes. Endocrine glands separate hormones directly once they come into the blood. The blood carries the hormone through the whole body. The hormones only work on the organs they are targeted on. Once arrive the change the activities of the organ or regulate the production of other hormones.

Hormones. Hormones coordinate slow body processes, like metabolism (stofwisseling), reproduction, growth and development. The major endocrine glands are the pituitary gland (found in the brains) , the thyroid gland (found in the throat), the islets of Langerhans (found in the pancreas) , the adrenal glands (found above the kidneys) , the ovaries (found above the female genitals) and the testes (found above the male genitals).


Diabetes The islets of Langerhans are special cells in the pancreas. The pancreas is a digestive gland. It produces juice to digest fats, proteins and carbohydrates. The islets of Langerhans produce insulin an glucagon. These two hormones regulate the glucose level in the blood. Blood is about 0.1% glucose. The level of glucose is also known as the blood sugar concentration. Insulin and glucagon keep the blood sugar concentration about at the same level. If you take in a lot glucose the isles of Langerhans monitor the blood and responds to this high level of glucose by producing more insulin. Insulin tells the live and the muscles to take glucose out of the blood. Glucose is changed into glycogen in the liver and muscles. When glycogen is stored in these organs, it acts as a storage substance. By turning glucose into glycogen, the glucose level in the blood decrease back to normal levels. When using to much glucose the islets of Langerhans start producing glucagon. Glucagon is a hormone that tells the liver and the muscles to turn glycogen back into glucose. Glucose is released into the blood ant the glucose level in the blood increases.

In short: Glucose level in blood increases  islets of Langerhans produce more insulin in liver and muscles glucose is changed into glycogen glucose level in blood decreasesislets of Langerhans produce more glucagon in liver and muscled glycogen is changed into glucose glucose level in blood increases and so on…