Position and structure

• The pituitary gland (hypophysis) is a small gland below the brain, connected to the hypothalamus by a stalk (infundibulum).
• It is called the master gland because it controls the function and secretion of most of the other endocrine glands (thyroid, adrenal cortex, gonads), and because the hypothalamus controls its own secretion — hormones of the hypothalamus regulate the pituitary.

It has two parts:

• Adenohypophysis (glandular part): the anterior lobe and middle lobe.
• Neurohypophysis: the posterior lobe plus the infundibulum (nervous part).