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Bacterial and viral products, such as bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), cause inducible (i) NO synthase (NOS) synthesis, which in turn produces massive amounts of nitric oxide (NO). NO, by inactivating enzymes and leading to cell death, is toxic not only to invading viruses and bacteria, but also to host cells. Injection of LPS induces interleukin (IL)‐1β, IL‐1α, and iNOS synthesis in the anterior pituitary and pineal glands, meninges, and choroid plexus, regions outside the blood‐brain barrier. Thereafter, this induction occurs in the hypothalamic regions (such as the temperature‐regulating centers), paraventricular nucleus (releasing and inhibiting hormone neurons), and the arcuate nucleus (a region containing these neurons and axons bound for the median eminence). Aging of the anterior pituitary and pineal with resultant decreased secretion of pituitary hormones and the pineal hormone melatonin, respectively …