The expansion of adult stem/progenitor cells and their marker expression fluctuations are linked with pituitary plastic adaptation during gestation and lactancy

VACA, AM; GUIDO, CB; SOSA, LV; NICOLA, JP; MUKDSI, J; PETITI, JP; TORRES, AI

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-ENDOCRINOLOGY AND METABOLISM

AMER PHYSIOLOGICAL SOC

Lugar: Bethesda; Año: 2016 vol. 311 p. 367 - 367

0193-1849

xtensive evidence has revealed variations in the number of hormone-producing cells in the pituitary gland, which occur under physiological conditions such as gestation and lactancy. It has been proposed that new hormone-producing cells differentiate from stem cells. However, exactly how and when this takes place is not clear. In this work, we used immunoelectron microscopy to identify adult pituitary stem/progenitor cells (SC/P) localized in the marginal zone (MZ), and additionally, we detected GFRa2-, Sox2-, and Sox9-positive cells in the adenoparenchyma (AP) by fluorescence microscopy. Then, we evaluated fluctuations of SC/P mRNA and protein level markers in MZ and AP during gestation and lactancy. An upregulation in stemness markers was shown at term of gestation (AT) in MZ, whereas there were more progenitor cell markers in the middle of gestation and active lactancy. Concerning committed cell markers, we detected a rise in AP at beginning of lactancy (d1L). We performed a BrdU up