Contributions to the understanding of embryonic development and organization of endocrine organs have been made in this neat study by Ma and colleagues. Taking advantage of the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP), they produced chimeric mice by aggregating BALB/c mouse and “green mouse” embryos. Using confocal laser scanning microscopy and immunohistochemistry, they showed that various endocrine organs had specific mosaic patterns of EGFP-positive and –negative cells. In addition to this, they demonstrate that all hormone-producing cell populations are of polyclonal embryonic origin, deriving from more than two progenitor cells. Ma et al. (2010) Journal of Endocrinology 207, 23-31.

Read full article at: DOI: 10.1677/JOE-10-0184