2023 Endocrine Images Award Winners - Michelle L. Brinkmeier, Sally Camper, and Deb Gumucio – University of Michigan

The pituitary gland produces hormones that regulate metabolism, fertility, growth, and the stress response. The anterior lobe develops Rathke's pouch, and the posterior lobe and pituitary stalk develop from overlaying neural ectoderm.  Stem cells in both tissues are marked by SOX2 immunostaining (green). The pituitary transcription factor PROP1 (Red) is an important driver of hormone producing cell fate within Rathke's pouch, where its expression overlaps with SOX2 (yellow). [This is a sagittal slice of an e13.5 mouse embryo.]