Differentiation capacities of PS-clusters, adult pituitary stem/progenitor cell clusters located in the parenchymal-niche, of the rat anterior lobe.

ABSTRACT: Pituitary endocrine cells are supplied by Sox2-expressing stem/progenitor cells in the anterior lobe of the adult pituitary. In relation to their microenvironment ("niche"), SOX2-positive cells exist in two types of niches; the marginal cell layer-niche and the parenchymal-niche. Recently, we isolated dense stem/progenitor cell clusters from the parenchymal-niche as parenchymal stem/progenitor cell (PS)-clusters. We classified these PS-clusters into three subtypes based on differences in S100β-expression (S100β-positive, -negative, and -mixed type), and reported that S100β-positive PS-clusters exhibited the capacity for differentiation into endocrine cells under 3-dimensional cultivation system. In the present study, we further characterized S100β-positive PS-clusters using an in vitro 2-d

SUBMITTER: Yoshida S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5912746 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature