Wonder how sex hormone production is regulated at the level of pituitary gland? Or the mechanism behind how seasonal cue induces the production?
To answer those questions, I am using Japanese medaka ( Oryzias latipes ) as the model organism. I am studying a gland-wide distribution of gonadotrope cells (responsible for sex hormone production), and investigating how the cell population is changing. In collaboration with other members in Weltzien group , I am developing 3D atlas of pituitary endocrine cells, investigating the plasticity and its underlying mechanism by the effect of internal (sex steroids) and external (photoperiod) stimuli.
To investigate how sex steroids affect the change in gonadotrope cell number in the pituitary, I am using gonadectomy technique to induce gonadotrope cell hyperplasia, and discover how this hyperplasia is regulated. Meanwhile, I am taking the advantage of medaka as a long day seasonal breeder to study the regulation of gonadotrope cell population which is induced by photoperiod.
Click links below for studies that have been released related to those aforementioned topics.
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Publikasjoner