Stem cell wonder
A research team, led by scientists at Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory,
have for the first time, identified stem cells that allow the
pituitary glands to grow even after birth, in mice.
They also found that these stem cells are different from the majority
of adult stem cells that trigger the initial growth of this important
organ, reports ANI.
The results of the study also suggest a novel way that can be taken
up by the pituitary gland in both adolescents and adults, to
traumatic stress or to normal life changes like pregnancy. Earlier,
Grigori Enikolopov, Ph.D., an associate professor at Cold Spring
Harbour Laboratory (CSHL), had known that a gene called Nestin was
active in neural stem cells and they had genetically engineered mice
so that the same conditions that activate Nestin in a particular
cell, also make it glow green under ultraviolet light. After that
many such teams have used these special mice to help find adult stem
cells in hair follicles, liver, muscle, and other tissues. The
pituitary gland in humans is about the size of a pea and sits at the
base of the brain, where it secretes hormones that regulate various
processes throughout the body. However, in mice, the gland develops
in the embryo, but then has a second growth spurt.
Anatoli Gleiberman, Ph.D., a researcher in the laboratory of
pituitary expert M. Geoff Rosenfeld at the University of California,
San Diego, in collaboration with Grigori Enikolopov, aimed to look
for pituitary stem cells. They used the Nestin-tracking mice to
identify candidate cells in the anterior pituitary, the section of
the organ that secretes hormones and later they used other techniques
to show that these are true stem cells. Enikolopov said, "There are
six main lineages in the adult pituitary and we can demonstrate that
one adult stem cell can generate all six lineages," with each cell
type secreting a different hormone. However, these cells differ from
most adult stem cells.
The researchers showed that adult stem cells in the pituitary did not
help construct the embryonic organ. They suggested that their
research indicates that the adult mouse pituitary includes two
similar, but not identical, types of hormone-producing cells: some
that grew in the developing embryo, and some that appeared later.
They even hypothesised that having two sets of cells may let the
organ respond differently to changing body conditions. Dr Enikolopov
mentioned that hormones strongly influence human neuropsychiatric
phenomena, including stress and depression that are his main research
focus. The study, titled, `Genetic approaches identify adult
pituitary stem cells' appeared in a recent edition of the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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