ZEBRAFISH ADENOHYPOPHYSIS DEVELOPMENT: A SINGLE-CELL PERSPECTIVE

• Grant number: 23/14405-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: April 01, 2024
• End date: March 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Morphology - Embryology
• Principal Investigator: Luciani Renata Silveira de Carvalho
• Grantee: Nicholas Silvestre de Souza Trigueiro
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The pituitary is the main endocrine organ in humans and its anterior part (adenohypophysis) is responsible for production and secretion of seven hormones that regulate growth, fertility and stress. The embryonic origin of the adenohypophysis is in the cranial placodes, in some animal models, the adenohypophyseal placode receives cells from the endoderm and the neuroectoderm when migrating to the basis of the brain. In addition, a big cascade of signaling pathways and transcription factors are related to the formation and migration of the adenohypophysis. The pituitary development is so complex that, worldwide, 84.2% of the cases of patients with deficiencies in one or more pituitary hormones since birth do not have a molecular diagnosis. With the advance of the omics era, a new technology of RNA sequencing at single cell level allows us to infer cell types, communication, and cell lineages of a specific tissue. Zebrafish has a homology of 70% of its genome in comparison to humans, therefore is a good experimental model. This work intends to use omic technologies, such as Single-cell RNAseq to investigate and elucidate the adenohypophyseal development, shed light to possible mechanisms and molecular markers involved in the pituitary development.