pea. It is an important link between the nervous system and the endocrine system and releases many hormones which affect growth, sexual development, metabolism and the system of reproduction. The "hypothalamus" is a tiny cluster of brain cells just above the pituitary gland, which transmits messages from the body to the brain. The pituitary gland has two distinct parts, the anterior and the posterior lobes, each of which releases different hormones which affect bone growth and regulate activity in other glands. This gland was once believed to be the main controlling gland of the body, but we now know that, important as it is, it is subservient to a master gland called the hypothalamus, which is the needed link between the pituitary gland and the brain. This "master gland" is really a way station between the body and the brain and sorts out messages going to and from the brain. It responds to the body through the pituitary gland, which is suspended just below it. It sometimes replies by nerve impulses and sometimes with needed hormones.
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