| Hormone Words: "ectohormone" to "prohormone"hormo-, hormono- (Greek: to rouse or to set in motion).ectohormone: 1. A parahormonal chemical mediator of ecologic significance that is secreted, largely by an organism (usually an invertebrate) into its immediate environment (air or water); it can alter the behavior or functional activity of a second organism, often of the same species as that secreting the ectohormone. 2. A hormone secreted to the outside of the body; such as, a pheromone. hormonal: Pertaining to hormones.
 hormone: 1. A chemical substance, formed in one organ or part of the body and carried in the blood to another organ or part; depending on the specificity of their effects. Hormones can alter the functional activity, and sometimes the structure, of just one organ or tissue or various numbers of them. 2. A number of hormone's are formed by ductless glands, but secretin and pancreozymin, formed in the gastrointestinal tract, by definition are also hormone's. hormonogenesis: The production or formation of hormones; hormonogenic.
 hormonology: 1. Clinical endocrinology or the study of hormones, the endocrine system, and their role in the physiology of the body. 2. A medical specialty concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the endocrine system. hormonoprivia: An obsolete term meaning partial or total deprivation of hormones.
 hormonotherapy: Treatment with hormones.
 hormopoiesis: The production of hormones; hormonopoietic.
 neurohormone: A hormone formed by neurosecretory cells and liberated by nerve impulses (e.g., norepinephrine).
 parahormone: A substance, product of ordinary metabolism, not produced for a specific purpose, that acts like a hormone in modifying the activity of some distant organ; e.g., the action of carbon dioxide on the control of breathing.
 prehormone: A glandular secretory product, having little or no inherent biological potency, that is converted peripherally to an active hormone.
 prohormone: 1. An intraglandular precursor of a hormone; e.g., proinsulin. 2. An obsolete term formerly used to designate a substance developed in serum that antagonizes a specific antihormone, and thus enhances the action of the corresponding hormone. |