title: Local retrograde and destination transfer of physiological regulators as an important regulatory system and its role. Facts and hypothesis.
abstract: In recent decades, among many physiological regulatory systems operating as local and central controls, the mechanism of the local regulatory system based on the uptake and retrograde transfer of hormones and other physiological regulators to the places of their secretion or their destination transfer to nearby structures has become precisely understood. The system of the retrograde transfer and local destination transfer of the physiological regulators, situated between endocrine and paracrine regulation, operates primarily on the basis of specific morphological adaptations of the local blood circulatory system and lymphatic system. These adaptations enable the transfer of the regulatory molecules through the walls of blood and lymph vessels and locally increase their concentrations in the arterial blood supplying the organ secreting them (retrograde transfer) or a nearby organ (destination transfer). Extensive studies on the structure and functions of the retrograde and destination transfer system have focused on several key areas: the female and male reproductive organs, the perihypophyseal vascular complex (the venous cavernous sinus and the internal carotid artery or the rete mirabile of the internal carotid artery or maxillary artery), and the periophthalmic vascular complex (the venous ophthalmic sinus or plexus and the rete mirabile of the external ophthalmic artery). The local retrograde transfer of regulatory molecules not only allows them to be reused but also influences their production by a feedback mechanism. The local destination transfer of physiological regulators can selectively supply nearby organs with certain regulatory factors and thereby affect their function. Many observations indicate that the retrograde and local destination transfer of hormones and other biologically active substances may be a universal physiological regulatory mechanism, operating with only minor modifications in various species of animals and in humans. This review evaluates the most important published experimental studies and presents facts and hypothesis on the regulatory role of the retrograde and destination transfer of many steroid hormones, prostaglandins, pheromones, neurotransmitters (neurohormones) and CO in male and female reproductive physiology, in the physiology of the central nervous system and hypophysis and in eye function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Local Physiological Regulations, Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Olsztyn, Poland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Krzymowski
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stefanczyk-Krzymowska
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport / Q000502:physiology*; D001775:Blood Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008208:Lymphatic System / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology*