Ishikawa H, Nogami H, Shirasawa N
Nature. 1983;303(5919):711-3. doi: 10.1038/303711a0.
S-100 protein, one of the unique proteins found in the nervous system, has recently been discovered unexpectedly in the rat anterior pituitary. Immunocytochemistry reveals that stellate, follicular and folliculostellate cells, and marginal cells of the rat anterior pituitary contain this protein; however, as far as we know, there are no reports on the physiological role of this protein in the anterior pituitary. In the study reported here, three S-100 protein-producing clonal strains (JH-S3, JH-S8 and JH-S12) from adult rat anterior pituitaries were established by using the single cell-plating feeder layer method. These new clonal strains reveal that the S-100 protein-producing cell is an independent cell type of the anterior pituitary. Both cultures and grafts of the JH-S3 cells stain immunocytochemically with anti-S100 protein IgG fraction. Moreover, the S-100 protein and conditioned medium of JH-S3 clonal cells both stimulate release of prolactin from prolactin-secreting clonal cells (1G4) in vitro.
S-100蛋白是在神经系统中发现的独特蛋白质之一，最近意外地在大鼠垂体前叶中被发现。免疫细胞化学显示，大鼠垂体前叶的星状细胞、滤泡细胞、滤泡星状细胞和边缘细胞含有这种蛋白质；然而，据我们所知，尚无关于该蛋白在垂体前叶生理作用的报道。在本文报道的研究中，通过单细胞铺板饲养层法从成年大鼠垂体前叶建立了三个产生S-100蛋白的克隆株（JH-S3、JH-S8和JH-S12）。这些新的克隆株表明，产生S-100蛋白的细胞是垂体前叶的一种独立细胞类型。JH-S3细胞的培养物和移植组织用抗S-100蛋白IgG组分进行免疫细胞化学染色。此外，JH-S3克隆细胞的S-100蛋白和条件培养基在体外均能刺激催乳素分泌克隆细胞（1G4）释放催乳素。
