Question

The relative concentrations of all the hormones within an organism is highly regulated. A scientist in a lab observed that ¹⁴C-labeled insulin showed a 48% decrease within 30 min after injection into a rat.

-Explain why it is important that hormones in the bloodstream are rapidly inactivated. Apply this answer to explain how insulin is maintained at a consistent level in an organism. Describe 3 ways mammals can use to generate a rapid and significant alteration in concentration of a circulating hormone.

Answer 1

The three mechanisms that mammals use to alter the concentration of circulating horomone are : Humoral stimuli, Hormonal stimuli and Neural stimuli.

Humoral stimulus is the control of hormone release in response to changes in extracellular fluids such as blood or the ion concentration in the blood. Hormonal stimuli refers to the release of a hormone in response to another hormone. Neural stimuli refers to direct stimulation of endocrine glands to release hormones.