Hidden face of the anterior pituitary

Trends Endocrinol Metab. 2002 Sep;13(7):304-9. doi: 10.1016/s1043-2760(02)00616-1.

Abstract

The traditional view holds that the anterior pituitary is an endocrine gland with a complex and heterogeneous distribution of cells throughout the parenchyma. Thus, a long-distance mode of intraorgan communication is not usually taken into account in our understanding of pituitary functioning. However, recent in situ pituitary studies have begun to unveil a hitherto unknown route of large-scale information transfer within the pituitary. Agranular folliculostellate cells - the sixth type of pituitary cell initially discovered almost half a century ago - are the functional units of a dynamically active cell network wiring the whole gland. Because folliculostellate cells communicate with their endocrine neighbors, this opens the door to considering the pituitary as a cellular puzzle more ordered than was first thought. Hence, cell networking within the pituitary gland could have a privileged role in coordinating the activities of distant cells in both physiological and pathological conditions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Calcium / metabolism
  • Electrophysiology
  • Fluorescent Antibody Technique
  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Humans
  • Ion Channels / physiology
  • Microtomy
  • Pituitary Gland, Anterior / cytology*
  • Pituitary Gland, Anterior / physiology
  • Signal Transduction

Substances

  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Ion Channels
  • Calcium