Zhu Xiaoyan, Lin Chijen R, Prefontaine Gratien G, Tollkuhn Jessica, Rosenfeld Michael G
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department and School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2005 Jun;15(3):332-40. doi: 10.1016/j.gde.2005.04.011.
The pituitary gland functions as a relay between the hypothalamus and peripheral target organs that regulate basic physiological functions, including growth, the stress response, reproduction, metabolism and lactation. The development of the pituitary gland has been studied extensively in mice, and has begun to be explored in zebrafish, an animal model system amenable to forward genetics. Multiple signaling molecules and transcription factors, expressed in overlapping but distinct spatial and temporal patterns, are required at various stages of pituitary development. Defects in this precisely regulated genetic program lead to diverse pituitary dysfunction. The animal models have greatly enhanced our understanding of molecular mechanisms underlying pituitary development in addition to congenital pituitary disorders in humans.
垂体作为下丘脑与外周靶器官之间的中继站，调节包括生长、应激反应、生殖、代谢和泌乳在内的基本生理功能。垂体发育在小鼠中已得到广泛研究，并已开始在斑马鱼（一种适用于正向遗传学的动物模型系统）中进行探索。在垂体发育的各个阶段，需要多种信号分子和转录因子，它们以重叠但不同的时空模式表达。这一精确调控的遗传程序中的缺陷会导致多种垂体功能障碍。除了人类先天性垂体疾病外，动物模型极大地增进了我们对垂体发育潜在分子机制的理解。
