CHAPTER 20. HORMONAL DRUGS

In this Chapter:

20.1. Hypothalamic and pituitary hormones and their drugs

20.2. Hormones of the epiphysis and their drugs

20.3. Thyroid hormones and antithyroid drugs. Calcitonin

20.3.1. Thyroid hormones and their drugs

20.3.2. Antithyroid drugs

20.3.3. Calcitonin (thyrocalcitonin)

20.4. Parathyroid hormones and their drugs

20.5. Pancreatic hormones, their drugs and synthetic antidiabetic drugs

20.6. Adrenocorticosteroids, their drugs and antagonists

20.6.1. Glucocorticoids

20.6.2. Mineralocorticoids

20.7. Sex hormones, their drugs and derivatives, synthetic substitutes and antagonists

20.7.1. Female sex hormones, their drugs and antagonists

20.7.2. Male sex hormones, their drugs and anagonists

20.7.3. Anabolic steroids

Hormones¹ are biologically active substances, produced by the endocrine glands and special cell groups in various tissues². They play the most important role in the humoral regulation of various functions of the body. Moreover, some hormones are neuromodulators.

¹ From Greek hormao - to excite.

² Hormones are biologically active agents that are secreted by the endocrine cells directly into the blood. They affect tissues and organs remote from the endocrine glands. There is also a so-called paracrine secretion. Paracrine cells produce local hormones (or autacoids) that affect the nearby cells (for example, histamine that is produced by the mast cells). «Autocrine secretion» means the production of substances, affecting the cell that produced it (it is typical for most cytokines). However, such subdivision is not absolute. Rather often compounds belong to more than one group (for example, NO can cause both autocrine and paracrine effect).

The importance of hormones is particularly evident when there is a hypofunction of the endocrine glands. For example, failure of the pancreatic islet cells leads to the development of diabetes mellitus, parathyroid gland failure which causes hypocalcaemia (associated with convulsions) and insufficiency of the antidiuretic hormone of the posterior pituitary lobe - diabetes insipidus. At the same time there are diseases, associated with increased production of hormones. Thus, hyperfunction of the thyroid gland causes hyperthyroidism (Basedow's disease, Graves' disease), excessive production of the somatotropic hormone of the anterior pituitary lobe - gigantism, acromegaly.