Endocrine Abstracts

The function of stem cells in the anterior pituitary gland, their role in homeostasis during life and possible involvement in pituitary tumours remain largely unknown. We have previously shown that cells exclusively within the Sox2+ compartment of the mouse pituitary have progenitor/stem cell properties in culture where they can self-renew and terminally differentiate. To address if these cells act as stem cells in vivo, we generated an inducible Sox2-C...

A decade ago, genetic disruption of the kisspeptin signalling pathway was observed to cause hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism. Hypothalamic kisspeptin acts by stimulating secretion of endogenous GnRH. Our research has investigated the physiological effects of kisspeptin in women, with the overarching aim of determining if kisspeptin could be used to treat women with infertility.We initially observed that s.c. bolus injection of kisspeptin acutely stimulated...