The Neurosecretory Neuron in Neuroendocrine Regulatory Mechanisms

Abstract

The widespread occurrence of neurosecretory neurons in the animal kingdom suggests a functional significance that is basic and special. The explanation of the need for this unusual cell type lies in the fact that it forms a link between the nervous and the endocrine systems whose functional interdependence forms the basis for the effectiveness of regulatory mechanisms in the animal world. These two integrative systems function in different ways. The neurosecretory cell, with its dual characteristics, and this cell alone, seems capable of receiving messages in “neural” language, and of transmitting this information in modified “endocrine” language to glandular cells. The neurosecretory neuron occupies a central position in neuroendocrine interactions, not only because it is geared for communication with the endocrine apparatus, but because it serves as a singular channel (“final common path,” E. Scharrer, 1965) through which a multitude of afferent stimuli, after being processed, are channeled to a variety of endocrine way stations and thus exert control over their effector organs.