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Dissection and Coronal Slice Preparation of Developing Mouse Pituitary Gland
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Pituitary Gland Functional Connectivity and BMI.
Paige Rucker1, Toshikazu Ikuta2
1School of Medicine, The University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, United States.
Frontiers in Neuroscience
|March 19, 2019
Summary
The pituitary gland
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Endocrinology
- Brain Imaging
Background:
- The pituitary gland regulates body weight via hormones.
- Its functional connectivity with brain regions related to body weight is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To map pituitary gland functional connectivity.
- To investigate associations between pituitary gland functional connectivity and body mass index (BMI).
Main Methods:
- Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 494 individuals.
- Voxel-wise analysis of pituitary gland functional connectivity.
- Utilized the enhanced Nathan Kline Institute-Rockland Sample.
Main Results:
- Identified significant negative associations between BMI and functional connectivity of the pituitary gland.
- Observed decreased connectivity between the pituitary gland and the orbitofrontal cortex, hippocampus, putamen, and temporal lobe in individuals with higher BMI.
Conclusions:
- Pituitary gland dysconnectivity to key brain regions is linked to higher BMI.
- Connectivity between these dopaminergic regions and the pituitary gland may play a role in body weight regulation through feeding and growth pathways.
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