M H Quentien, A Barlier, J L Franc, I Pellegrini, T Brue, A Enjalbert
Despite the existence of interspecies phenotypic variability, animal models have yielded valuable insights into human pituitary diseases. Studies on Snell and Jackson mice known to have growth hormone, prolactin and thyroid-stimulating hormone deficiencies involving the hypoplastic pituitary gland have led to identifying alterations of the pituitary specific POU homeodomain Pit-1 transcription factor gene. The human phenotype associated with rare mutations in this gene was found to be similar to that of these mice mutants...
September 2006: Journal of Neuroendocrinology