2. Academic Validation
  3. Single-cell transcriptome atlas of male mouse pituitary across postnatal life highlighting its stem cell landscape

Single-cell transcriptome atlas of male mouse pituitary across postnatal life highlighting its stem cell landscape

  • iScience. 2025 Jan 6;28(2):111708. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.111708.
Silke De Vriendt 1,  Emma Laporte 1,  Berkehür Abaylı 1,  Julie Hoekx 1,  Florian Hermans 2,  Diether Lambrechts 3 4,  Hugo Vankelecom 1
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Laboratory of Tissue Plasticity in Health and Disease, Cluster of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology, Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
  • 2 Department of Cardiology and Organ Systems (COS), Biomedical Research Institute (BIOMED), Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, 3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium.
  • 3 Laboratory for Translational Genetics, Department of Human Genetics, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
  • 4 Center for Cancer Biology, Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (VIB), 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
PMID: 39898054 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.111708
Abstract

The pituitary represents the master gland governing the endocrine system. We constructed a single-cell (sc) transcriptomic atlas of male mouse endocrine pituitary by incorporating existing and new data, spanning important postnatal ages in both healthy and injured condition. We demonstrate strong applicability of this new atlas to unravel pituitary (patho)biology by focusing on its stem cells and investigating their complex identity (unveiling stem cell markers) and niche (pinpointing regulatory factors). Importantly, we functionally validated transcriptomic findings using pituitary stem cell organoids, revealing roles for Krüppel-like transcription factor 5 (KLF5), activator protein-1 (AP-1) complex and epidermal growth factor (EGF) pathways in pituitary stem cell regulation. Our investigation substantiated changes in stem cell dynamics during aging, reinforcing the inflammatory/immune nature in elderly pituitary and stem cells. Finally, we show translatability of mouse atlas-based findings to humans, particularly regarding aging-associated profile. This pituitary sc map is a valuable tool to unravel pituitary (patho)biology.

Keywords

Endocrine system physiology; Stem cells research; Transcriptomics.

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