The Hypothalamus as an Endocrine Organ

Although some faint indications about the influence of the central nervous system (CNS) on endocrine functions can be traced back to the end of the previous century, neuroendocrinology started to become a fairly independent scientific field around the 1940s when neurosecretion was discovered and it had been postulated that the CNS control of the anterior pituitary is exerted via a neurohumoral mechanism.