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Regulation Of Pituitary Progenitor Differentiation By Β-Catenin, Julie Leann Youngblood

Theses and Dissertations

The pituitary gland is a critical organ that is necessary for many physiological processes, including growth, reproduction, and stress response. These vital processes are regulated through the secretion of pituitary hormones from specialized cell types. Pituitary hormone-producing cells arise from a common pool of pituitary progenitors in the developing Rathke’s pouch, and mutations that disrupt the formation and differentiation of pituitary progenitors often result in hypopituitarism, pituitary adenomas, or craniopharyngiomas. Thus, it is necessary to determine the mechanisms of pituitary development in order to understand the ways in which these congenital defects and tumors develop and disrupt pituitary function. Canonical …