Mathematical Analysis of the Neural Control of Hormone Secretion

The pituitary is one of the primary glands of the body. Many hormones are released from a variety of cells within the pituitary, and these hormones regulate the release of hormones from other glands and have direct actions on the brain, muscles, and organs. The timing of hormone release from the pituitary is important, and is determined largely through interactions with a region of the brain called the hypothalamus. These interactions are quite complex, and serve as a good application area for mathematical modeling and computer simulations. The focus of this seminar is recent mathematical modeling and analysis of interactions between the hypothalamus and pituitary lactotrophs, pituitary cells that secrete the hormone prolactin. We discuss possible mechanisms for circadian oscillations in prolactin secretion in pregnant rats, and the much faster oscillations (period of several seconds) in electrical activity of the lactotrophs, using models of cellular dynamics at very different temporal and spatial scales.