Reproduction Abstracts

Introduction: The pituitary anterior lobe consists of five types of hormone-producing cells and non-hormonal cells. In non-hormonal cells, Sox2-expressing cells exist as stem/progenitor cells and play a role in the regeneration of hormonal cells. However, elucidation of the differentiation mechanism is yet uncovered. Established cell lines are frequently used as a model system not only for cellular physiology and gene expression but also for cell differentiation. In t...

Introduction: Neuronatin (NNAT) is first identified in the neonatal neural tissue and is assumed to be involved in embryonic neurogenesis. Although defect of PROP1, a pituitary specific transcription factor important for pituitary organogenesis, causes reduced expression of the Nnat, the cellular localization and the vital roles of NNAT in the pituitary are still unclear. The present study examined the population of the NNAT-positive cells as to understand the role of NNAT in ...

Introduction: Pituitary cells positive for S100 protein are non-hormone-producing cells and are composed of heterogeneous populations, including folliculo-stellate cell. They are argued for having various functions and are detectable only after birth, but their origin is not yet clarified. Recently, we had detected S100βmRNA in the cDNA library of embryonic pituitary by real-time PCR and observed invasion of non-hormone-producing cells from surrounding mesenchyme...