Torin Hopkins, PhD

Neuroscience & BCI

Foxd1 Is Necessary for Pituitary LH Expression

Investigating the role of the transcription factor Foxd1 in mice.

DOI
Foxd1 Is Necessary for Pituitary LH Expression

The pituitary gland regulates growth, reproduction, metabolism, and stress responses. This study found that the transcription factor Foxd1 is required, indirectly, for normal luteinizing hormone expression and cartilage formation around the developing mouse pituitary.

Key findings

  • Foxd1 is not expressed in the developing pituitary itself, but in the surrounding mesenchyme, an essential source of signals for pituitary development.
  • Loss of Foxd1 causes the anterior pituitary to protrude through the developing cartilage plate and increases pituitary cell proliferation.
  • Foxd1-null mice show significantly decreased Lhb expression at e18.5 without a change in gonadotrope cell number or LHX3 expression.

Publications

  1. The Forkhead Transcription Factor, Foxd1, Is Necessary for Pituitary Luteinizing Hormone Expression in Mice

    J. H. Gumbel, E. M. Patterson, S. A. Owusu, B. E. Kabat, D. O. Jung, J. Simmons, Torin Hopkins, and Buffy S. Ellsworth

    PLoS One, 7(12):e52156, 2012.

    DOI