Pituitary gland lobe synthesizes and secretes melanocyte-stimulating hormone. The posterior pituitary (or neurohypophysis) is a lobe of the gland that is functionally connected to the hypothalamus by the median eminence via a small tube called the pituitary stalk (also called the infundibular stalk or the infundibulum). Hormones secreted from the pituitary gland help in controlling growth, blood pressure, energy management, all functions of the sex organs, thyroid glands and metabolism as well as some aspects of pregnancy, childbirth, nursing, water/salt concentration at the kidneys, temperature regulation and pain relief. The pituitary gland, in humans, is a pea-sized gland that sits in a
Pituitary gland referred to the pituitary gland by only using the (Ancient Greek) name ἀδήν, "gland". He described the pituitary gland as part of a series of secretory organs for the excretion of nasal mucus. Anatomist Andreas Vesalius translated ἀδήν with "glans, in quam pituita destillat", "gland in which slime ("pituita") drips". Besides this 'descriptive' name, Vesalius used "glandula pituitaria", from which the English name "pituitary gland" is ultimately derived. The expression "glandula pituitaria" is still used as official synonym beside "hypophysis" in the official Latin nomenclature "Terminologia Anatomica". In the seventeenth century the supposed function of the pituitary gland to produce