Endocrine Abstracts

The pituitary is an anatomically well protected endocrine gland in permanent contact with the central nervous system. Although it was known that pituitary has plasticity in response to the physiological demands of the body, there were few clear data about the post-natal mechanisms in charge of this plasticity. The discovery of a group of cells expressing stem cell markers precisely organized in the outer zone of the adenopituitary open up new possibilities to explain the const...

Our goal is to better understand the molecular and cellular nature of paediatric combined pituitary hormone deficiency diseases in order to facilitate improved diagnosis, treatment, and family counselling. LIM-homeodomain transcription factors regulate many aspects of development and mutations in the genes that encode these regulatory proteins are associated with several diseases. The LHX3 LIM-homeodomain protein is critical for pituitary gland organogenesis and some nervous s...

All secretory cells of the anterior and intermediate pituitary derive from the oral ectoderm that forms Rathke’s pouch. Pituitary progenitors present in the pouch as well as similar progenitor/stem cells that remain along the cleft of the adult gland, are marked by expression of Sox2. Sox2-positive progenitors can self-replicate or enter differentiation. Before any differentiation marker is expressed, progenitors first exit the cell cycle under the control of the cell cyc...