Fink George
Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental HealthUniversity of Melbourne, Kenneth Myer Building, Genetics Lane, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
J Endocrinol. 2015 Aug;226(2):T13-24. doi: 10.1530/JOE-15-0130. Epub 2015 May 12.
Geoffrey Harris, while still a medical student at Cambridge, was the first researcher (1937) to provide experimental proof for the then tentative view that the anterior pituitary gland was controlled by the CNS. The elegant studies carried out by Harris in the 1940s and early 1950s, alone and in collaboration with John Green and Dora Jacobsohn, established that this control was mediated by a neurohumoral mechanism that involved the transport by hypophysial portal vessel blood of chemical substances from the hypothalamus to the anterior pituitary gland. The neurohumoral control of anterior pituitary secretion was proved by the isolation and characterisation of the 'chemical substances' (mainly neuropeptides) and the finding that these substances were released into hypophysial portal blood in a manner consistent with their physiological functions. The new discipline of neuroendocrinology - the way that the brain controls endocrine glands and vice versa - revolutionised the treatment of endocrine disorders such as growth and pubertal abnormalities, infertility and hormone-dependent tumours, and it underpins our understanding of the sexual differentiation of the brain and key aspects of behaviour and mental disorder. Neuroendocrine principles are illustrated in this Thematic Review by way of Harris' major interest: hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal control. Attention is focussed on the measurement of GnRH in hypophysial portal blood and the role played by the self-priming effect of GnRH in promoting the onset of puberty and enabling the oestrogen-induced surge or pulses of GnRH to trigger the ovulatory gonadotrophin surge in humans and other spontaneously ovulating mammals.
杰弗里·哈里斯在剑桥大学还是一名医科学生时，就是首位（1937年）为当时初步提出的垂体前叶受中枢神经系统控制这一观点提供实验证据的研究者。哈里斯在20世纪40年代和50年代初独自开展以及与约翰·格林和多拉·雅各布松合作进行的出色研究，证实这种控制是通过一种神经体液机制介导的，该机制涉及垂体门脉血管血液将化学物质从下丘脑转运至垂体前叶。垂体前叶分泌的神经体液控制通过对“化学物质”（主要是神经肽）的分离和特性鉴定得以证明，并且发现这些物质以与其生理功能相符的方式释放到垂体门脉血液中。神经内分泌学这一新学科——即大脑控制内分泌腺以及反之亦然的方式——彻底改变了对内分泌紊乱（如生长和青春期异常、不育症以及激素依赖性肿瘤）的治疗，并且它是我们理解大脑性分化以及行为和精神障碍关键方面的基础。本专题综述通过哈里斯的主要研究兴趣——下丘脑 - 垂体 - 性腺控制来阐述神经内分泌学原理。重点关注垂体门脉血液中促性腺激素释放激素（GnRH）的测量以及GnRH的自我启动效应在促进青春期开始以及使雌激素诱导的GnRH激增或脉冲触发人类和其他自发排卵哺乳动物的排卵性促性腺激素激增中所起的作用。
