Endocrine Abstracts

The past decade has seen significant advances in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of pituitary development and function. However, relatively few gonadotrope specific factors have been identified to date. Through characterization of patients with endocrine disorders as well as transgenic mice, it has emerged that the nuclear receptor transcription factors SF-1 and DAX-1 play an important role in the regulation of gonadotrope activity. SF-1 (NR5A1) activates multipl...

Pituitary folliculostellate (FS) cells were originally described in 1953 and comprise up to 10% of the anterior pituitary cell population. These epithelioid cells are thought to be derived from neuroectodermal cells and express S-100, a nervous tissue-selective protein that is used to define FS phenotype. Unlike their endocrine counterparts, they are devoid of secretory granules and were considered non-secretory until relatively recently. Experiments using pituitary slices hav...

Lymphocytic hypophysitis (LYH) is an unusual pituitary disorder in which an inflammatory process compromises normal anterior and posterior pituitary function, and produces a mass effect on adjacent structures....