Pituitary Stem Cells: Review of the Literature and Current Understanding.
Summary of "Pituitary Stem Cells: Review of the Literature and Current Understanding."
BACKGROUND:
The existence of pituitary stem cells in the adult pituitary gland is supported by such findings as postnatal proliferation, differentiation based on environmental alterations, and development of hormone-producing cells after specific lesions in the pituitary.
OBJECTIVE:
We discuss which cells in the adult pituitary gland might play a role as pituitary stem cells, the potential for these cells to initiate pituitary adenomas, and possible future clinical implications.
METHODS:
We reviewed the English literature in search for scholarly articles related to stem cells in the adult pituitary, cells with embryonic profile in the adult gland, mitogenic characteristics of adult pituitary cells, and pituitary adenoma oncogenesis.
RESULTS:
We identified and analyzed 135 articles related to pituitary stem cells and pituitary development published since 1965. Stem cell characteristics, including renewal, proliferation abilities, and the presence of stem cells markers, have been demonstrated by adult pituitary cells from mammals. However, the proliferation ability observed so far is limited, and the potential of differentiation into hormone-secreting cells remains to be conclusively proven. Stem cell markers have been detected in animal models of pituitary tumorigenesis; however, a direct connection has not been demonstrated.
CONCLUSION:
Research into the capacity of "pituitary stem cells" to differentiate in vitro and in vivo will clarify the mechanisms for regulation of these cells. As pituitary stem cells are better understood, clinical applications like the treatment of pituitary adenomas and the implantation of pituitary stem cells for hormonal deficiencies may be developed.
Affiliation
Federal University of Ceara-School of Medicine, Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil (de Almeida) Department of Neurosurgery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (Sherman) Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Johns Hopkins University, Balt
Journal Details
This article was published in the following journal.
Name: Neurosurgery
ISSN: 1524-4040
Pages:
Links
- PubMed Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20651623
- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1227/01.NEU.0000373013.75994.CD
Medical and Biotech [MESH] Definitions
Review Literature As Topic
Published materials which provide an examination of recent or current literature. Review articles can cover a wide range of subject matter at various levels of completeness and comprehensiveness based on analyses of literature that may include research findings. The review may reflect the state of the art. It also includes reviews as a literary form.
Review
An article or book published after examination of published material on a subject. It may be comprehensive to various degrees and the time range of material scrutinized may be broad or narrow, but the reviews most often desired are reviews of the current literature. The textual material examined may be equally broad and can encompass, in medicine specifically, clinical material as well as experimental research or case reports. State-of-the-art reviews tend to address more current matters. A review of the literature must be differentiated from HISTORICAL ARTICLE on the same subject, but a review of historical literature is also within the scope of this publication type.
Iontophoresis
Therapeutic introduction of ions of soluble salts into tissues by means of electric current. In medical literature it is commonly used to indicate the process of increasing the penetration of drugs into surface tissues by the application of electric current. It has nothing to do with ION EXCHANGE; AIR IONIZATION nor PHONOPHORESIS, none of which requires current.
Multipotent Stem Cells
Specialized stem cells that are committed to give rise to cells that have a particular function; examples are MYOBLASTS; MYELOID PROGENITOR CELLS; and skin stem cells. (Stem Cells: A Primer [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Institutes of Health (US); 2000 May [cited 2002 Apr 5]. Available from: http://www.nih.gov/news/stemcell/primer.htm)
Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation
Transplantation of stem cells collected from the peripheral blood. It is a less invasive alternative to direct marrow harvesting of hematopoietic stem cells. Enrichment of stem cells in peripheral blood can be achieved by inducing mobilization of stem cells from the BONE MARROW.
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