The pituitary gland is a major endocrine tissue composing of two distinct entities, the adenohypophysis (anterior pituitary, cranial placode origin) and the neurohypophysis (posterior pituitary, neural ectoderm origin), and plays important roles in maintaining vital homeostasis. This tissue is maintained by a slow, consistent cell-renewal system of adult stem/progenitor cells. Recent accumulating evidence shows that neural crest-, head mesenchyme-, and endoderm lineage cells invade during pituitary development and contribute to the maintenance of the adult pituitary gland. Based on these novel observations, this article discusses whether these lineage cells are involved in pituitary organogenesis, maintenance, regeneration, dysplasia, or tumors.

垂体是主要的内分泌组织，由两个不同的实体组成：腺垂体（垂体前叶，颅板起源）和神经垂体（垂体后叶，神经外胚层起源），在维持重要的体内平衡中发挥着重要作用。该组织由成体干细胞/祖细胞的缓慢、一致的细胞更新系统维持。最近积累的证据表明，神经嵴、头部间充质和内胚层谱系细胞在垂体发育过程中侵入，并有助于成人垂体的维持。基于这些新的观察结果，本文讨论了这些谱系细胞是否参与垂体器官发生、维持、再生、发育不良或肿瘤。