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The pars intermedia and the fetal pituitary-adrenal axis.
- Source :
-
Ciba Foundation symposium [Ciba Found Symp] 1981; Vol. 81, pp. 180-95. - Publication Year :
- 1981
-
Abstract
- The increased production of cortisol by the fetal adrenal gland at term acts as the trigger for parturition in some species. The fetal pituitary controls fetal adrenal function. However, ACTH is only one of a family of closely related peptides which derive from a common precursor and we have shown that although ACTH is the dominant form in the adult pituitary, the expression of the "family trees' is altered in the fetus. In the sheep, it is large-molecular-weight precursors and, in the primate, the smaller peptides such as alpha-MSH, CLIP, beta-MSH and beta-endorphin that predominate in fetal life and which may be responsible for fetal adrenal function. It is still unclear what causes the developmental change in the ACTH "family tree'. Since it may result from a change in pituitary function - from the peptides of the pars intermedia, in the fetus, to those of pars anterior, in the adult - we have studied these two lobes separately in pituitaries taken from adult and fetal sheep and monkeys. Our preliminary results suggest that the change may occur in the neurointermediate lobe in the primate, but that in the sheep the developmental changes occur in the anterior lobe.
- Subjects :
- Adrenocorticotropic Hormone physiology
Animals
Corticotropin-Like Intermediate Lobe Peptide
Female
Fetus
Gestational Age
Haplorhini
Humans
Hydrocortisone physiology
Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormones physiology
Peptide Fragments physiology
Pituitary Hormones physiology
Pregnancy
Species Specificity
Adrenal Glands embryology
Pituitary Gland embryology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0300-5208
- Volume :
- 81
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Ciba Foundation symposium
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 6268377
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470720646.ch11