A slightly more than pea-sized gland that hangs down from the floor of the 3rd ventricle in a thin stalk just behind the optic nerve cross. The pituitary gland consists of two completely different parts. The anterior so-called gland/adeno-pituitary gland, the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland, which has developed in the pharyngeal roof and during the foetal period migrated upwards through the base of the skull and grown together with the posterior so-called neurohypophysis, the pituitary posterior lobe. The neurohypophysis is a drooping part of the hypothalamus region of the brain base.
Both parts of the pituitary gland secrete important hormones into the bloodstream.