Pineal Gland-Its Function in Controlling Seasonal Fertility in Some Animals

Pineal Gland-Its Function in Controlling Seasonal Fertility in Some Animals

For as long as the pineal gland has been known to exist, myriad functions have been ascribed to it, including its (1) being the seat of the soul, (2) enhancing sex, (3) staving off infection, (4) promoting sleep, (5) enhancing mood, and (6) increasing longevity (as much as 10 to 25 per cent). It is known from comparative anatomy that the pineal gland is a vestigial remnant of what was a third eye located high in the back of the head in some lower animals. Many physiologists have been content with the idea that this gland is a nonfunctional remnant, but others have claimed for many years that it plays important roles in the control of sexual activities and reproduction, functions that still others said were nothing more than the fanciful imaginings of physiolo-gists preoccupied with sexual delusions.

But now, after years of dispute, it looks as though the sex advocates have won and that the pineal gland does indeed play a regulatory role in sexual and reproductive function. In lower animals that bear their young at certain seasons of the year and in which the pineal gland has been removed or the nervous circuits to the pineal gland have been sectioned, the normal periods of sea-sonal fertility are lost. To these animals, such seasonal fertility is important because it allows birth of the off-spring at the time of year, usually springtime or early summer, when survival is most likely. The mechanism of this effect is not entirely clear, but it seems to be the following.

First, the pineal gland is controlled by the amount of light or “time pattern” of light seen by the eyes each day. For instance, in the hamster, greater than 13 hours of darkness each day activates the pineal gland, whereasless than that amount of darkness fails to activate it, with a critical balance between activation and nonacti-vation. The nervous pathway involves the passage of light signals from the eyes to the suprachiasmal nucleus of the hypothalamus and then to the pineal gland, activating pineal secretion.

Second, the pineal gland secretes melatonin and several other, similar substances. Either melatonin or one of the other substances is believed to pass either by way of the blood or through the fluid of the third ventricle to the anterior pituitary gland to decrease gonadotropic hormone secretion.

Thus, in the presence of pineal gland secretion, gonadotropic hormone secretion is suppressed in some species of animals, and the gonads become inhibited and even partly involuted. This is what presumably occurs during the early winter months when there is increasing darkness. But after about 4 months of dysfunction, gonadotropic hormone secretion breaks through the inhibitory effect of the pineal gland and the gonads become functional once more, ready for a full spring-time of activity.

But does the pineal gland have a similar function for control of reproduction in humans? The answer to this question is unknown. However, tumors often occur in the region of the pineal gland. Some of these secrete excessive quantities of pineal hormones, whereas others are tumors of surrounding tissue and press on the pineal gland to destroy it. Both types of tumors are often asso-ciated with hypogonadal or hypergonadal function. So perhaps the pineal gland does play at least some role in controlling sexual drive and reproduction in humans.