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. 2021 Jan 29;11:604519. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2020.604519

Table 1.

Pros and cons of in vitro pituitary study models.

Model Pros Cons
Pituitary cell lines

  • - Readily available

  • - Easy to handle and manipulate

  • - Tumor-derived or genetically immortalized (not representative for normal tissue cells)

  • - Only represents a single cell type

  • - 2D format
From primary compound pituitary
Monolayer cell culture

  • - More pituitary cell types

  • - Easily established

  • - Limited expandability

  • - Quickly lose physiological behavior

  • - 2D format
Explant culture

  • - Representative (reflects tissue heterogeneity and physiological responses)

  • - Easily established

  • - 3D format

  • - Limited expandability – necrosis

  • - Limited experimental possibilities or manipulations
Cell aggregate culture

  • - Representative (reflects tissue heterogeneity and physiological responses)

  • - Easily established

  • - Long-term culture

  • - 3D format

  • - Limited expandability

  • - Difficult to enrich for FS/stem cells
From primary pituitary stem cells
Sphere culture

  • - Quite representative (differentiation into hormonal cells)

  • - Allows exploration of pituitary stem cell biology

  • - 3D format

  • - Limited expandability

  • - Limited application potential (e.g., to unravel differentiation processes)
Colony culture

  • - Quite representative (differentiation into hormonal cells)

  • - Allows exploration of pituitary stem cell biology

  • - Limited expandability

  • - Limited application potential (e.g., to unravel differentiation processes)

  • - 2D format
Organoid culture

  • - Extensive expandability of limited primary (stem) cells

  • - Quite representative (differentiation into specific hormonal cells)

  • - Allows exploration of pituitary stem cell biology

  • - High application potential (e.g., tumor/disease modeling, drug screening, …)

  • - Amenable to gene editing

  • - Cryopreservable

  • - 3D format

  • - Cost-intensive

  • - At present still limited differentiation

  • - Very hard to achieve from normal human pituitary
From PSCs
Organoid culture

  • - More representative (may reflect tissue heterogeneity)

  • - ESCs/iPSCs are readily available and expandable

  • - Model for human normal pituitary

  • - 3D format

  • - Labor intensive set-up

  • - Cost-intensive

  • - Limited expandability once differentiated into pituitary fate

  • - Human iPSCs known difficult to transfect