Endocrine cell excitability opens the way to novel pharmacological intervention: example of the anterior pituitary cell

Conclusion Excitability appears to be an important property of adenohypophyseal cells. The example ofthe lactotroph cell illustrates how the modification of membrane electrical properties can allowthe cell to adapt its functional characteristics to different physiological demands, which mayeven coexist in a contradictory manner in one animal. The amalgam of endocrine cell andnerve cell characteristics in one membrane makes the adenohypophyseal cell an ideal model forstudies in pharmacology and cellular toxicology.