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Updated: Feb 10, 2026

Dissection and Coronal Slice Preparation of Developing Mouse Pituitary Gland
Published on: November 16, 2017
Complex integration of intrinsic and peripheral signaling is required for pituitary gland development
Whitney Edwards1, Lori T Raetzman1
1Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA.
Abstract:
The coordination of pituitary development is complicated and requires input from multiple cellular processes. Recent research has provided insight into key molecular determinants that govern cell fate specification in the pituitary. Moreover, increasing research aimed to identify, characterize, and functionally describe the presumptive pituitary stem cell population has allowed for a better understanding of the processes that govern endocrine cell differentiation in the developing pituitary. The culmination of this research has led to the ability of investigators to recapitulate some of embryonic pituitary development in vitro, the first steps to developing novel regenerative therapies for pituitary diseases. In this current review, we cover the major players in pituitary stem/progenitor cell function and maintenance, and the key molecular determinants of endocrine cell specification. In addition, we discuss the contribution of peripheral hormonal regulation of pituitary gland development, an understudied area of research.
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