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Medical Term:


Pronunciation: nu'ro-se-kre'shun

Definition: The release of a secretory substance from the axon terminals of certain nerve cells in the brain into the circulating blood. The secretory product may be a true hormone, the antidiuretic hormone released from the axon terminals of the neurons that make up the supraoptic nucleus of the hypothalamus; in the case of the so-called releasing-factor neurons of the hypothalamus, the cell product is not a systemic hormone in its own right but elicits the release of trophic hormones by the anterior lobe of the hypophysis, substances that in turn stimulate peripheral endocrine glands to release their systemically active hormones.
