PMID- 27685990 OWN - NLM STAT- Publisher VI - 11 IP - 9 TI - Cocaine-and Amphetamine Regulated Transcript (CART) Peptide Is Expressed in Precursor Cells and Somatotropes of the Mouse Pituitary Gland. PG - e0160068 LA - eng PT - Journal Article PL - United States TA - Plos One JT - PloS one JID - 101285081 IS - 1932-6203 (Electronic) LID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0160068 [doi] FAU - Mortensen, Amanda H AU - Mortensen AH AD - Department of Human Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-5618, United States of America. FAU - Camper, Sally A AU - Camper SA AUID- ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8556-3379 AD - Department of Human Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-5618, United States of America. IS - 1932-6203 (Linking) PMC - PMC5042496 LR - 20191120 DP - 2016 DEP - 20160929 AB - Cocaine-and Amphetamine Regulated Transcript (CART) peptide is expressed in the brain, endocrine and neuroendocrine systems and secreted into the serum. It is thought to play a role in regulation of hypothalamic pituitary functions. Here we report a spatial and temporal analysis of Cart expression in the pituitaries of adult and developing normal and mutant mice with hypopituitarism. We found that Prop1 is not necessary for initiation of Cart expression in the fetal pituitary at e14.5, but it is required indirectly for maintenance of Cart expression in the postnatal anterior pituitary gland. Pou1f1 deficiency has no effect on Cart expression before or after birth. There is no 1:1 correspondence between CART and any particular cell type. In neonates, CART is detected primarily in non-proliferating, POU1F1-positive cells. CART is also found in some cells that express TSH and GH suggesting a correspondence with committed progenitors of the POU1F1 lineage. In summary, we have characterized the normal temporal and cell specific expression of CART in mouse development and demonstrate that postnatal CART expression in the pituitary gland requires PROP1.