Citation

Vennekens A, Vankelecom H. Pituitary 2019; 22(3): 212-219.

Affiliation

Department of Development and Regeneration, Cluster of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology, Unit of Stem Cell Research, KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Campus Gasthuisberg O&N4, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium. hugo.vankelecom@kuleuven.be.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s11102-019-00961-z

PMID

31020506

Abstract

PURPOSE: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major worldwide cause of disability, often burdening young people with serious lifelong health problems. A frequent clinical complication is post-traumatic hypopituitarism (PTHP) manifesting in several hypothalamus-pituitary axes. The head trauma-induced mechanisms underlying PTHP remain largely unknown. Several hypotheses have been proposed including direct damage to the pituitary gland and hypothalamus, vascular events and autoimmunity. This review aims to provide a summary of the currently limited number of studies exploring hypothalamus-pituitary dysfunction in experimental animal TBI models.

RESULTS: Although the impact of different forms of TBI on a number of hypothalamus-pituitary axes has been investigated, consequences for pituitary tissue and function have only scarcely been described. Moreover, mechanisms underlying the endocrine dysfunctions remain under explored.

CONCLUSIONS: Studies on TBI-induced pituitary dysfunction are still scarce. More research is needed to acquire mechanistic insights into the pathophysiology of PTHP which may eventually open up the horizon toward better treatments, including pituitary-regenerative approaches.

Language: en

Keywords

Hypopituitarism; Pituitary; Pituitary dysfunction; Regeneration; Stem cells; Traumatic brain injury