Cellular Basis of Pineal Gland Development: Emerging Role of Microglia as Phenotype Regulator.

ABSTRACT: The adult pineal gland is composed of pinealocytes, astrocytes, microglia, and other interstitial cells that have been described in detail. However, factors that contribute to pineal development have not been fully elucidated, nor have pineal cell lineages been well characterized. We applied systematic double, triple and quadruple labeling of cell-specific markers on prenatal, postnatal and mature rat pineal gland tissue combined with confocal microscopy to provide a comprehensive view of the cellular dynamics and cell lineages that contribute to pineal gland development. The pineal gland begins as an evagination of neuroepithelium in the roof of the third ventricle. The pineal primordium initially consists of radially aligned Pax6+ precursor cells that express vimentin and divide at the v

SUBMITTER: Ibanez Rodriguez MP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5115862 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature