Hi everyone.. i want to know about the link between neural system and endocrine system..it's quite confusing.. please anybody make me clear with an example or suggest any book....
Not sure how I can help, but the main difference between a NeuroTransmitter and a hormone, is that neurotransmitters have local scope, while hormones tend to have global (Whole body) scope. This is because neurotransmitters are secreted into the intra-cellular area, while hormones tend to be secreted into the blood.
In some cases like the Opioid Receptors, neuro-transmitters share synaptic sensitivity with Hormones. One way to look at this is from the evolutionary perspective. Early multi-cellular organisms evolved hormones, in order to coordinate growth and roles within the colony.
Animals, at some point started developing a specialized communications/processing capacity needed to deal with their active lifestyles. In many cases they co-opted (evolutionarily speaking of course) some of the hormone chemistry for this role. The Parathyroid was developed to allow some control of the organisms homeostasis, without directly involving the rest of the brain. So the major glands that do the glandular secretions we call hormones either operate due to existing pathways, or operate under the ANS depending on how smart the body needs to be to maintain homeostasis.
One of the reasons it is so confusing is that there are many kludges that make up the link between neural systems and hormonal systems.
Now lets get into the Endocrinal System and its link to the limbic system.In essence the Endocrinal System is mostly about setting the systems of the body up so that it will operate efficiently and the Limbic System is all about What type of actions should be used for best survival potential. In the Basal Ganglia, inputs from the senses, and the limbic system combine to form a reactive memory that is to some extent able to be conditioned like an early evolutionary type.
Negative or Positive emotions encourage or discourage the conditioning that is used primarily to orient us towards our environment.
The next stage, is that the limbic system prioritizes implicit and explicit memory stages, which are critical for the formation of declarative memory. This determines what is stored in the Short Term memory, to be processed more.
I estimate that there are 9 stages in most memory processes, during which the semantics of the sensory inputs are somehow derived. The last two steps,being awareness and consciousness. The last step Consciousness is informed not only by the limbic system, but by some meta-cognitive "Feelings".
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