title: Amphibian melanotrophs as a model to analyze the secretory plasticity of endocrine cells.
abstract: Precise regulation of hormone secretion from endocrine cells is of critical importance for the maintenance of animal homeostasis. This is partly enabled through the ability of endocrine cells to adapt dynamically their secretory activity to the physiological demands through complex functional changes. Such a secretory plasticity results from coordinated adaptive changes at several levels of cell function, including hormonal gene expression and biosynthesis, hormone processing, trafficking, storage and release, expression of membrane receptors, activation of signaling pathways, etc. Integration of all these processes at the single cell level defines the secretory status of each of the individual cells producing a given hormone, whose coordinated activity ultimately determines the response of the whole endocrine gland. This short review summarizes our most recent findings on the cellular and molecular elements and mechanisms underlying the secretory plasticity of endocrine cells, obtained from the analysis of distinct aspects of melanotroph cell function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, University of Córdoba, Córdoba, 14071 Spain.
authors.forename: Juan R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Peinado
authors.forename: Justo P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Castaño
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vázquez-Martínez
authors.forename: Youssef
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Anouar
authors.forename: Marie Christine
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Tonon
authors.forename: Hubert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vaudry
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gracia-Navarro
authors.forename: María M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Malagón
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002864:Chromogranins; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000378:metabolism*; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011898:Ranidae / Q000502:physiology*; D022142:Secretory Vesicles / Q000378:metabolism; D000521:alpha-MSH / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002864:Chromogranins; D011506:Proteins; D000521:alpha-MSH