Name the hormones whose deficiency causes:
Diabetes insipidus
Topic: ADH deficiency
Answer
VASOPRESSIN, also called ANTIDIURETIC HORMONE (ADH), secreted by the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland.
ADH makes the kidney tubules reabsorb water back into the blood. Without it that reabsorption fails, so the person passes enormous volumes of very DILUTE urine and suffers great thirst.
THE TWO DISORDERS SHARE A NAME AND NOTHING ELSE, which is why they are asked together: MELLITUS — lack of INSULIN from the PANCREAS; urine contains SUGAR INSIPIDUS — lack of ADH from the PITUITARY; urine contains NO sugar
The second words tell them apart: MELLITUS means honey-sweet, INSIPIDUS means tasteless. Both produce excessive urination, which is why both are called "diabetes" — the word means to siphon.