scholarly journals Rapid Changes in Anterior Pituitary Cell Phenotypes in Male and Female Mice after Acute Cold Stress

Endocrinology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 149 (5) ◽  
pp. 2159-2167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Senovilla ◽  
Lucía Núñez ◽  
Carlos Villalobos ◽  
Javier García-Sancho
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Cold Stress ◽  
Relative Abundance ◽  
Anterior Pituitary ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Female Mice ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
Cell Phenotypes ◽  
Different Cell Types

The anterior pituitary (AP) is made of five different cell types. The relative abundance and phenotype of AP cells may change in different physiological situations as an expression of pituitary plasticity. Here, we analyze in detail the phenotype of mouse corticotropes and the effects of acute cold stress on AP cell populations. The hormone content and the expression of hypothalamic-releasing hormone (HRH) receptors in all the five AP cell types were studied in the male and female mice at rest and after a 30-min cold stress. Expression of HRH receptors was evidenced by imaging the single-cell cytosolic Ca2+ responses in fura-2-loaded cells. Hormone contents were studied by multiple, simultaneous immunofluorescence of all the five hormones. Corticotropes displayed a striking sexual dimorphism, even in the resting condition. Male corticotropes showed the orthodox phenotype. They were monohormonal, storing only ACTH, and monoreceptorial, responding only to CRH. In contrast, female corticotropes were made of about equal parts of orthodox cells and multifunctional cells, which co-stored additional AP hormones and expressed additional HRH receptors. Cold stress did not modify the number of ACTH containing cells, but, according to immunostaining, it increased the relative abundance of other AP cell types at the expense of the pool of cells storing no hormones. Cold stress also modified the response to CRH and other HRHs. Most of these phenotypical changes presented a strong sexual dimorphism. These results indicate that pituitary plasticity is even larger than previously thought.

scholarly journals Changes in Expression of Hypothalamic Releasing Hormone Receptors in Individual Rat Anterior Pituitary Cells during Maturation, Puberty and Senescence

Endocrinology ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 146 (11) ◽  
pp. 4627-4634 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Senovilla ◽  
Javier García-Sancho ◽  
Carlos Villalobos
Keyword(s):  
Relative Abundance ◽  
Anterior Pituitary ◽  
Hormone Receptors ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Pituitary Cells ◽  
Functional Responses ◽  
Single Class ◽  
Releasing Hormone ◽  
Single Cell Imaging ◽  
Different Cell Types

Anterior pituitary (AP) is formed by five different cell types, each one producing a different AP hormone whose secretion is regulated by a specific hypothalamic-releasing hormone (HRH). On the other hand, a significant number of AP cells express multiple HRH receptors (multiresponsive cells). Plastic changes in expression of HRH receptors in individual AP cells are involved in critical endocrine events. Here we have characterized the changes in functional responses to CRH, LHRH, TRH, and GHRH in individual AP cells throughout the whole life span of the rat. To this end, calcium responses to the HRHs were followed by single-cell imaging in freshly dispersed AP cells prepared from rats of different ages (0–540 postnatal days). Three different cell pools were identified: 1) monoresponsive cells, holding a single class of HRH receptor; 2) multiresponsive cells; and 3) nonresponsive cells. The relative abundance of each pool changed with age. Nonresponsive cells were abundant at birth, multiresponsive cells were abundant at puberty, and monoresponsive cells dominated at senescence. The relative abundance of each HRH receptor changed largely with age but not gender. In addition, the contribution of monoresponsive and multiresponsive cells to responses to each HRH changed very much with age. Thus, the anterior pituitary shows large changes in cell populations typed by functional responses to HRHs during maturation, puberty, and senescence.

The melanocortin-3 receptor is a pharmacological target for the regulation of anorexia

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (590) ◽  
pp. eabd6434
Author(s):  
Patrick Sweeney ◽  
Michelle N. Bedenbaugh ◽  
Jose Maldonado ◽  
Pauline Pan ◽  
Katelyn Fowler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Feeding Behavior ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Sexually Dimorphic ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Female Mice ◽  
Bidirectional Regulation ◽  
Fear And Anxiety ◽  
Agouti Related Protein

Ablation of hypothalamic AgRP (Agouti-related protein) neurons is known to lead to fatal anorexia, whereas their activation stimulates voracious feeding and suppresses other motivational states including fear and anxiety. Despite the critical role of AgRP neurons in bidirectionally controlling feeding, there are currently no therapeutics available specifically targeting this circuitry. The melanocortin-3 receptor (MC3R) is expressed in multiple brain regions and exhibits sexual dimorphism of expression in some of those regions in both mice and humans. MC3R deletion produced multiple forms of sexually dimorphic anorexia that resembled aspects of human anorexia nervosa. However, there was no sexual dimorphism in the expression of MC3R in AgRP neurons, 97% of which expressed MC3R. Chemogenetic manipulation of arcuate MC3R neurons and pharmacologic manipulation of MC3R each exerted potent bidirectional regulation over feeding behavior in male and female mice, whereas global ablation of MC3R-expressing cells produced fatal anorexia. Pharmacological effects of MC3R compounds on feeding were dependent on intact AgRP circuitry in the mice. Thus, the dominant effect of MC3R appears to be the regulation of the AgRP circuitry in both male and female mice, with sexually dimorphic sites playing specialized and subordinate roles in feeding behavior. Therefore, MC3R is a potential therapeutic target for disorders characterized by anorexia, as well as a potential target for weight loss therapeutics.

scholarly journals ImmGen report: sexual dimorphism in the immune system transcriptome

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shani Talia Gal-Oz ◽  
Barbara Maier ◽  
Hideyuki Yoshida ◽  
Kumba Seddu ◽  
Nitzan Elbaz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Innate Immune ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Pathogen Invasion ◽  
Immune Pathways ◽  
Genomic Regions ◽  
Mammalian Immune System

Abstract Sexual dimorphism in the mammalian immune system is manifested as more frequent and severe infectious diseases in males and, on the other hand, higher rates of autoimmune disease in females, yet insights underlying those differences are still lacking. Here we characterize sex differences in the immune system by RNA and ATAC sequence profiling of untreated and interferon-induced immune cell types in male and female mice. We detect very few differentially expressed genes between male and female immune cells except in macrophages from three different tissues. Accordingly, very few genomic regions display differences in accessibility between sexes. Transcriptional sexual dimorphism in macrophages is mediated by genes of innate immune pathways, and increases after interferon stimulation. Thus, the stronger immune response of females may be due to more activated innate immune pathways prior to pathogen invasion.

The Application of Quantitative Stereology to the Study of Adenohypophyseal Cells

1976 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 124-125
Author(s):  
Max C. Poole ◽  
V.B. Mahesh ◽  
Allen Costoff
Keyword(s):  
Anterior Pituitary ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
The Other ◽  
Vaginal Smears ◽  
Prolactin Cells ◽  
Estrous Cycles ◽  
Liver Parenchymal ◽  
Quantitative Stereology ◽  
Parenchymal Cells ◽  
Different Cell Types

Quantitative stereology of liver parenchymal cells has previously been reported (1,2), but there have been few studies of morphometry applied to a heterogenous tissue (3). Due to the presence of several different cell types, it is difficult to study the synthesis and secretion of hormones in cells of the anterior pituitary by conventional biochemical means. In this study prolactin cells were analyzed using morphometry during different times of the rat estrous cycle, and were correlated with changing levels of prolactin in the serum and pituitary gland.Vaginal smears of 60 day old Holtzman rats were monitored through three estrous cycles, and only four day cycling rats were used. Groups of six animals were decapitated at 4 P.M., 6 P.M., 10 P.M. and 12 midnight of proestrus and one half of the pituitary was processed for electron microscopy and the other half for assay.

Anterior pituitary thyrotropes are multifunctional cells

2004 ◽  
Vol 287 (6) ◽  
pp. E1166-E1170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Villalobos ◽  
Lucía Núñez ◽  
Javier García-Sancho
Keyword(s):  
Single Cell ◽  
Anterior Pituitary ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Receptor Expression ◽  
Normal Male ◽  
Phenotypic Switch ◽  
Single Cell Type ◽  
Hormone Secretions ◽  
Cell Phenotypes ◽  
Hypothalamic Releasing Hormones

Anterior pituitary (AP) contains some unorthodox multifunctional cells that store and secrete two different AP hormones (polyhormonal cells) and/or respond to several hypothalamic-releasing hormones (HRHs; multiresponsive cells). Multifunctional cells may be involved in paradoxical secretion (secretion of a given AP hormone evoked by a noncorresponding HRH) and transdifferentiation (phenotypic switch between different mature cell types without cell division). Here we combine calcium imaging (to assess responses to the four HRHs) and multiple sequential immunoassay of the six AP hormones to perform a single-cell phenotypic study of thyrotropes in normal male and female mice. Surprisingly, most of the thyrotropes were polyhormonal, containing, in addition to thyrotropin (TSH), luteinizing hormone (40–42%) and prolactin (19–21%). Thyrotropes costoring growth hormone and/or ACTH were found only in females (24% of each type). These results suggest that costorage of the different hormones does not happen at random and that gender favors certain hormone combinations. Our results indicate that thyrotropes are a mosaic of cell phenotypes rather than a single cell type. The striking promiscuity of TSH storage should originate considerable mix-up of AP hormone secretions on stimulation of thyrotropes. However, response to thyrotropin-releasing hormone was much weaker in the polyhormonal thyrotropes than in the monohormonal ones. This would limit the appearance of paradoxical secretion under physiological conditions and suggests that timing of hormone and HRH receptor expression during the transdifferentiation process is finely and differentially regulated.

Dihydrotestosterone induces a sexual dimorphism in estrogen uptake by specific anterior pituitary cell types in vivo

1987 ◽  
Vol 249 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
D.A. Keefer ◽  
N. Dordai ◽  
R. Mallonga ◽  
K. Ziegler ◽  
P. Shughrue ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Anterior Pituitary ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Pituitary Cell ◽  
Anterior Pituitary Cell

scholarly journals Gonad-related factors promote muscle performance gain during postnatal development in male and female mice

2017 ◽  
Vol 313 (1) ◽  
pp. E12-E25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Ueberschlag-Pitiot ◽  
Amalia Stantzou ◽  
Julien Messéant ◽  
Megane Lemaitre ◽  
Daniel J. Owens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Postnatal Development ◽  
Muscle Fiber ◽  
Muscle Performance ◽  
Performance Gain ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Muscle Weight ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Female Mice ◽  
Muscle Contractile

To better define the role of male and female gonad-related factors (MGRF, presumably testosterone, and FGRF, presumably estradiol, respectively) on mouse hindlimb skeletal muscle contractile performance/function gain during postnatal development, we analyzed the effect of castration initiated before puberty in male and female mice. We found that muscle absolute and specific (normalized to muscle weight) maximal forces were decreased in 6-mo-old male and female castrated mice compared with age- and sex-matched intact mice, without alteration in neuromuscular transmission. Moreover, castration decreased absolute and specific maximal powers, another important aspect of muscle performance, in 6-mo-old males, but not in females. Absolute maximal force was similarly reduced by castration in 3-mo-old muscle fiber androgen receptor (AR)-deficient and wild-type male mice, indicating that the effect of MGRF was muscle fiber AR independent. Castration reduced the muscle weight gain in 3-mo mice of both sexes and in 6-mo females but not in males. We also found that bone morphogenetic protein signaling through Smad1/5/9 was not altered by castration in atrophic muscle of 3-mo-old mice of both sexes. Moreover, castration decreased the sexual dimorphism regarding muscle performance. Together, these results demonstrated that in the long term, MGRF and FGRF promote muscle performance gain in mice during postnatal development, independently of muscle growth in males, largely via improving muscle contractile quality (force and power normalized), and that MGFR and FGRF also contribute to sexual dimorphism. However, the mechanisms underlying MGFR and FGRF actions remain to be determined.

Organ culture of the anterior pituitary in a synthetic medium. An immunocytochemical study

1983 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Bégeot ◽  
J. Y. Li ◽  
M. P. Dubois ◽  
P. M. Dubois
Keyword(s):  
Organ Culture ◽  
Anterior Pituitary ◽  
Synthetic Medium ◽  
Calf Serum ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Foetal Calf Serum ◽  
Pituitary Cells ◽  
The Third ◽  
Different Cell Types

Abstract. Anterior pituitaries removed from human foetuses and rat neonates were maintained in organ culture after using three different media. A comparative immunocytological study of the different cell-types was made in the three media used. In the first medium containing foetal calf serum the different cell-types were present but their frequency in the cultured explants depended upon their representation in the tissue at the beginning of the culture. In the medium without any adjunction, the most characteristic feature was the shrinkage of the cultured tissue. In the third medium in which foetal calf serum was replaced by insulin the evolution of the explants was the same as in the first medium. All the cell-types were represented with a particular development of gonadotrophic cells. In conclusion it seemed that the third synthetic medium can be used in order to study anterior pituitary cells in vitro.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document