Human digestive system gland in the digestive system. It is both an endocrine gland and an exocrine gland. The endocrine part secretes insulin when the blood sugar becomes high; insulin moves glucose from the blood into the muscles and other tissues for use as energy. The endocrine part releases glucagon when the blood sugar is low; glucagon allows stored sugar to be broken down into glucose by the liver in order to re-balance the sugar levels. The pancreas produces and releases important digestive enzymes in the pancreatic juice that it delivers to the duodenum. The pancreas lies below and at the back of
Thyroid-stimulating hormone Thyroid-stimulating hormone Thyroid-stimulating hormone (also known as thyrotropin, thyrotropic hormone, TSH, or hTSH for human TSH) is a pituitary hormone that stimulates the thyroid gland to produce thyroxine (T), and then triiodothyronine (T) which stimulates the metabolism of almost every tissue in the body. It is a glycoprotein hormone produced by thyrotrope cells in the anterior pituitary gland, which regulates the endocrine function of the thyroid. In 1916, Bennett M. Allen and Philip E. Smith found that the pituitary contained a thyrotropic substance. TSH (with a half life of about an hour) stimulates the thyroid gland to secrete the hormone