Video Transcript
Where are the adrenal glands
located? (A) They are located at the base of
the brain. (B) They are located at the front
of the neck. (C) They are located on top of the
two kidneys. Or (D) they are located on the
sides of the uterus.
This question asks us about the
location of specific endocrine glands in the human body: the adrenal glands. The answer options provide us with
various locations of different endocrine glands, so let’s take a look at what an
endocrine gland is and some examples to work out which is the correct answer.
An endocrine gland is an organ
consisting of a group of specialized cells that secrete chemical messengers called
hormones directly into the bloodstream to influence various processes. One such endocrine gland that
triggers a wide range of effects in the human body through the numerous hormones it
releases is the pituitary gland.
For example, the pituitary gland
releases a hormone called thyroid-stimulating hormone or TSH. As the name suggests, TSH
stimulates another endocrine gland, the thyroid gland, to release its own
hormones. The pituitary gland is located at
the base of the brain, not the adrenal glands, so we can eliminate option (A).
TSH released from the pituitary
gland stimulates the thyroid gland to release a hormone called thyroxine, which has
many effects, such as on growth and metabolism. The location of the thyroid gland
is described in answer option (B) at the front of the neck, so this also cannot be
the location of the adrenal glands.
The adrenal glands also release a
wide variety of different hormones with different effects. For example, they can release a
hormone called aldosterone, which stimulates the kidneys to retain more sodium in
the blood and excrete more potassium, which partly contributes to the reabsorption
of water into the blood. In fact, if we take a look at the
origin of the word adrenal, it literally means near to the kidney. This is because each of our two
kidneys usually has an adrenal gland sitting above it. This suggests that the correct
answer to this question is option (C).
Let’s double-check by looking at
the endocrine glands that are located on the sides of the uterus. This option is describing the
ovaries, two of which tend to be present in biological females, each connected to
the uterus by a fallopian tube. The ovaries release various sex
hormones, such as estrogen, that influence the menstrual cycle in biological females
among various other functions.
This means that we can confirm that
the correct answer to this question about the location of the adrenal glands is
(C). They are located on top of the two
kidneys.
