Fundamental mechanisms causing pituitary stem cell aging in mice and humans
The pituitary gland produces hormones that are required to maintain proper endocrine function throughout adult life, but organ function declines with age.  In particular, pituitary stem cells lose their ability to regenerate hormone-producing cells in response to organ damage by middle age in mice.  In this proposal, we will use cutting edge single-cell RNA sequencing and human induced pluripotent stem cell techniques to determine genes responsible for pituitary stem cell aging in hopes of prolonging the window of regeneration in vivo. Overall design: single-nuclei RNAseq of 4 pools of pituitary nuclei. Each pool is made of 3 individual mouse pituitary glands. The 4 pools are male and female, 5 and 22-month-old UM-HET3 wild-type mice.