(Enlargement of the pituitary tissue created from embryonic stem cells. Image: Yoshiki Sasai)

The adenohypophysis or anterior pituitary functions as an important center of production of hormones. At present, no type of stem cell culture is capable of generating this type of tissue in humans, but Japanese scientists have just successfully in mice and intend to create a human pituitary in the next three years.

One of the authors of the study, Yoshiki Sasai, the group of Neurogenesis and Organogenesis of the Riken Center for Developmental Biology (Kobe, Japan) has explained to SINC that “as an extension of this success, we plan to apply our technology to human stem cells from the ES (embryonic) and IPS (induced pluripotent). We hope to develop an efficient method for producing human pituitary in the coming years. “

The mouse embryonic stem cells were stimulated in a culture that mimicked three-dimensional tissue interactions, to thereby produce the five hormones generated by different cell types present in the pituitary. The corticotrophic, for example, showed they were capable of secreting the hormone adenocorticotrópica in response to corticotropin-releasing hormone.

Other challenges for the medical application of this finding are, Sasai, “find a safe and effective for use in transplantation pituitary failure, a phenomenon found in the pituitary apoplexy, Sheehan’s syndrome or the empty sella “condition in which the pituitary gland shrinks or becomes flattened.

Complex tissues

The transplantation of these tissues in mice with defects in the pituitary resulted in the restoration of normal hormone levels affected. Sasai warns that “it is difficult to say how much we take, but hopefully we can produce human pituitary tissue in the next three years. It will take more time until we can develop methods of transplantation of these cells in animal studies. “

Another positive consequence of this method of organogenesis is that it opens the door to generating complex tissues in other parts of the body. “With regard to the implications,” says Sasai, “the bottom line of many organs, including lungs, pancreas or liver develops from the interaction of different tissues (epithelial, mesenchymal) and the actual achievement will help to develop efficient methods of production of shoots of these organs. “