Large-Scale Histology of the Pituitary Gland: Towards a Reconstruction of a 3D Secretory Cellular Network
François Molino, Université de Montpellier, France

Seminar • 13 June 2006 • BM.1.130

More Info ...Abstract
The pituitary gland comprises different secretory cellular types, involved in major endocrine regulations (growth, maturation, etc...). Among them, the growth hormone secreting cells (GH cells) comprise half the total of cells in the gland. A major challenge of growth hormone regulation is to understand the role of the coupling between these cells in a network structure, in terms of secretion efficiency and regulation. It is known that a ratio of up to 1/1000 exist between the secretory capacity of isolated versus functionnally connected cells, under pharmacological stimulation. Up to now the description of this functional cellular network has not been integrated in any physiological model. Simplistic characterisations, related to the number of cells are the only one available. To achieve any physiological understanding, one must first succeed in describing the actual network in terms of space position of the cells and connectivity. Our goal is to use trangenic mice in which the GH factor is co-expressed with a green fluorescent protein, and two photon microscopy on the gland, to obtain the complete 3D structure of the network. This implies solving different problems of image analysis, which my talk will try to list, suggesting strategies of solution as developped in our lab.