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Expression and localization of forkhead box protein FOXJ1 in S100β-positive multiciliated cells of the rat pituitary

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Abstract

S100β-positive cells exist in the marginal cell layer (MCL) of the adenohypophysis and follicle structure in the parenchyma of anterior lobe (ALFS) in pituitary. They have multiple functions as phagocytes or cells that regulate hormone secretion. Majority of S100β-positive cells in the adenohypophysis express sex determining region Y-box 2 protein (SOX2), a stem cell marker; therefore, S100β/SOX2 double positive cells are also considered as one type of stem/progenitor cells. MCL and ALFS are consisting of morphologically two types of cells, i.e., multiciliated cells and non-ciliated cells. However, the relationship between the S100β-positive cells and multiciliated cells in the pituitary is largely unknown. In the present study, we first immunohistochemically verified the feature of multiciliated cells in MCL and ALFS. We then examined the expression patterns of FOXJ1, an essential expression factor for multiciliated cell-differentiation, and SOX2 in the S100β-positive multiciliated cells by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. We identified anew the S100β/SOX2/FOXJ1 triple positive multiciliated cells, and revealed that they were dispersed throughout the MCL and ALFS. These results indicate that the MCL and ALFS are consisting of morphologically and functionally distinct two types of cells, i.e., S100β/SOX2 double positive non-ciliated cells and S100β/SOX2/FOXJ1 triple positive multiciliated cells.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Ms. Yuri Amakawa at Teikyo University for useful technical support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Teikyo University School of Medicine, 2-11-1 Kaga Itabashi-Ku, Tokyo, 173-8605, Japan

    Takashi Nakakura, Anshin Asano-Hoshino, Hideyuki Tanaka, Kenjiro Arisawa, Yoshimi Nishijima, Yoko Nekooki-Machida, Yoshiko Kiuchi & Haruo Hagiwara

  2. Department of Biology, Sapporo Medical University, Sapporo, Japan

    Takeshi Suzuki

  3. Laboratory of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Department of Health Sciences, Kyorin University, Tokyo, Japan

    Kotaro Horiguchi

  4. Division of Histology and Cell Biology, Department of Anatomy, Jichi Medical University School of Medicine, Tochigi, Japan

    Ken Fujiwara

  5. Department of Biomolecular Science, Faculty of Science, Toho University, Chiba, Japan

    Takehiro Tsukada

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  1. Takashi Nakakura
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  2. Takeshi Suzuki
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Correspondence to Takashi Nakakura.

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Funding

This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) (16K18982) to T. N. from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan and by a research Grant from Teikyo University School of Medicine.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest that might prejudice the impartiality of this research.

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Nakakura, T., Suzuki, T., Horiguchi, K. et al. Expression and localization of forkhead box protein FOXJ1 in S100β-positive multiciliated cells of the rat pituitary. Med Mol Morphol 50, 59–67 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00795-016-0148-1

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