Pituitary gland.
The pituitary gland is an endocrine gland about the size of a pea and weighing 0.5g(0.2oz) in humans.It is the protrusion off the bottom of the hypothalamus at the base of the brain, and rests in a small bony cavity (sella turcica) covered by a dural fold (diaphragmia sellae). The pituitary gland is functoinally connected to the hypothalamus by the median eminence via a small tube called the infundibular stem (pituitary stalk). the pituitary fossa, in which the pituitary gland sits, it is situated in the sphenoid bone in the middle cranial fossa at the base of the brain. The pituitary gland secretes nine hormones that regulate the homeostasis. The pituitary gland consists of two components: the anterior pituitary (or adenohypophysis) and the posterior pituitary (or neurohypophysis), and is functionally linked to the hypothalamus by the pituitary stalk. It is from the hypotholomus that hypothalamic tropic factors are released to descend down the infundibular stem to the pituitary gland were they stimulate the release of pituitary hormones. While the pituitary gland is known to be the "master" endocrine gland, both of the lobes are under the control of the hypothalamus; the andonohypophysis receives its signals of the prove cellular neurons and the neurohypophysis receives its signals from the magnocellular neurons.