Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism

 Imaging endocrinology in animal models of endocrine disease
 
Endocrine organs secrete a variety of hormones involved in the regulation of a multitude of body functions. Although pancreatic islets were discovered at the turn of the 19th century, other endocrine glands remained commonly described as diffuse endocrine systems. Over the last two decades, development of new imaging techniques and genetically-modified animals with cell-specific fluorescent tags or specific hormone deficiencies have enabled in vivo imaging of endocrine organs and revealed intricate endocrine cell network structures and plasticity.