Résumé
Extensive efforts have been made to explore how the activities of multiple
brain cells combine to alter physiology through imaging and cell-specific
manipulation in different animal models. However, the temporal regulation
of peripheral organs by the neuroendocrine factors released by the brain
is poorly understood. We have established a suite of adaptable
methodologies to interrogate in vivo the relationship of hypothalamic
regulation with the secretory output of the pituitary gland, which has
complex functional networks of multiple cell types intermingled with the
vasculature. These allow imaging and optogenetic manipulation of cell
activities in the pituitary gland in awake mouse models, in which both
neuronal regulatory activity and hormonal output are preserved. This
methodology is now readily applicable for longitudinal studies of
short-lived events (e.g. calcium signals controlling hormone exocytosis)
and slowly-evolving processes such as tissue remodelling in health and
disease over a period of days to weeks.