Estrogens are key to anterior pituitary function, stimulating hormone release and controlling cell fate to achieve pituitary dynamic adaptation to changing physiological conditions. In addition to their classical mechanism of action through intracellular estrogen receptors (ERs), estrogens exert rapid actions via cell membrane-localized ERs (mERs). We previously showed that E2 exerts a rapid pr...

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), which is secreted from folliculostellate cells in the anterior pituitary, is known to be involved in the communication between folliculostellate cells and lactotropes during estradiol-induced lactotropic cell proliferation. We studied the role of MAPK p44/42 in bFGF-regulated cell proliferation using enriched lactotropes and the lactotrope-derived PR1 cell...

Alcohol consumption has been shown to increase prolactin (PRL) production and cell proliferation of pituitary lactotropes. It also causes a reduction in the lactotrope's response to dopaminergic agents and a differential expression of dopamine 2 receptor short (D2S) and long (D2L) isoforms in the pituitary. However, the role of each of these D2 receptor isoforms and its coupled G protein in med...

Congenitally primary hypothyroid growth-retarded (grt) mice exhibit a characteristic growth pause followed by delayed onset of pubertal growth. We characterized the developmental pattern of somatotropes, lactotropes and thyrotropes in the anterior pituitary, as well as plasma levels of their secretory hormones, in grt mice. Compared with normal mice, the weight of grt pituitary gland was simila...

The anterior pituitary harbours five distinct hormone-producing cell types, and their cellular differentiation is a highly regulated and coordinated process. Here we show that ZBTB20 is essential for anterior pituitary development and lactotrope specification in mice. In anterior pituitary, ZBTB20 is highly expressed by all the mature endocrine cell types, and to some less extent by somatolacto...

Dopamine, through D2 receptor (D2R), is the major regulator of lactotrope function in the anterior pituitary gland. Both D2R isoforms, long (D2L) and short (D2S), are expressed in lactotropes. Although both isoforms can transduce dopamine signal, they differ in the mechanism that leads to cell response. The administration of D2R agonists, such as cabergoline, is the main pharmacological treatme...

Mice homozygous for a disruption in the alpha-subunit essential for TSH, LH, and FSH activity (alphaGsu-/-) exhibit hypothyroidism and hypogonadism similar to that observed in TSH receptor-deficient hypothyroid mice (hyt) and GnRH-deficient hypogonadal mutants (hpg). Although the five major hormone-producing cells of the anterior pituitary are present in alphaGsu-/- mice, the relative proportio...

The adenohypophysis consists of at least six different cell types, somatotropes, lactotropes, thyrotropes, melanotropes, corticotropes, and gonadotropes. In mouse, cloning of spontaneous mutations and gene targeting has revealed multiple genes required for different steps of adenohypophysis development. Here, we report the results of a systematic search for genes required for adenohypophysis fo...