| Theme | New Aspects of Parathyroid Hormone | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Parathyroid glands development | |
| Publish Date | 2006/07 | |
| Author | Yasuhiro Hamada | Division of Nephrology & Dialysis Center, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine |
| Author | Masafumi Fukagawa | Division of Nephrology & Dialysis Center, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine |
| [ Summary ] | The essential role of the parathyroid glands is maintaining systemic calcium homeostasis in tetrapods. During embrionic development, the parathyroid glands are derived from the third-pharyngeal pouch and the fourth-pharyngeal pouch. Recent reports have shown that Gcm2 is expressed specifically in the parathyroid glands and in both mice and humans is required for normal development of parathyroid glands. On the other hand, fish have been believed to lack parathyroid glands and PTH because the majority of calcium uptake in fish is from the external environments. However, recently, a parathyroid hormone encoding gene has been identified in fish and Gcm2 has been demonstrated to be required for the formation of gills. Moreover, gills have been shown to express the calcium sensing receptor. These insights suggest that the parathyroid glands of mammals and the gills of fish are evolutionarily related structures. | |