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Pituitary Responsiveness

Meaning

Pituitary responsiveness is the clinical and physiological measure of the anterior pituitary gland’s capacity to release its stored tropic hormones in response to specific stimulatory signals from the hypothalamus or peripheral target organs. This measure reflects the functional integrity and reserve capacity of the pituitary-target gland axis, such as the somatotropic or thyrotropic axes. Assessing responsiveness is a diagnostic method used to differentiate between primary (target gland) and secondary (pituitary) endocrine dysfunction.