Endocrine Abstracts

The pituitary gland, is a small midline organ situated at the base of the brain, that acts as a master regulator of multiple physiological functions: such as growth, puberty, metabolism, stress response, reproduction and lactation. The pituitary gland is composed of three lobes: the anterior and intermediate, which form the anterior pituitary (AP and contains hormone producing cells), and the posterior lobe which constitutes the posterior pituitary (PP contains axonal inputs)....

Background and Aims: β cell connectivity is a feature of pancreatic islets in vitro but its existence in vivo, when innervated and continuously perfused with blood, has not yet been demonstrated. We imaged islets engrafted in the anterior chamber of the mouse eye (ACE) to explore this question.Methods: Mouse (C57BL6, Ins1Cre::GCaM6mf/f) or human islets infected with adenovirus to express GCaMP6m, were engrafted and Ca<su...