This process creates activity as a result of the information sent from the pituitary gland. Each particular gland then produces its own hormone and discharges it into the bloodstream. The pituitary is controlled by chemical factors produced by neuroendocrine cells in the brain and are transported through blood vessels or the pituitary portal system. Chemical factors released by neuroendocrine cells in the hypothalamus, which is located directly above the pituitary, travel through this blood system to the pituitary gland and stimulate the release of pituitary hormones into the general blood circulation. The hypothalamus has control over the pituitary gland through neural connections and hormone-like substances that are called releasing factors, which is how the nervous system controls sexual behavior through the endocrine system.
Sexual behavior is influenced by the hypothalamus.
This gland stimulates the pituitary gland to release the sex hormones. If levels of the hormone fall, then sexual desire does as well. The hypothalamus secretes the releasing factor into the blood which is transported to the pituitary and stimulates it to secrete gonadotrophic hormone. In women, the target gland for gonadotrophic hormone is the ovary. The ovarian hormones make feedback loops to the pituitary gland and develop the sexual characteristics that distinguish females from males.