Immunohistochemical Localization of Prolactin in the Pituitary Gland of the Pigeon, Columba livia

1972 ◽  
Vol 50 (11) ◽  
pp. 1021-1025 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. A. McKeown

Specific antibodies to ovine prolactin were produced in rabbits. The antisera were conjugated to fluorescein isothiocyanate and "purified" by column chromatography. Antibodies, thus labelled, were applied to fresh-frozen sections of pigeon pituitary glands. Fluorescence was observed in specific cells of the cephalic lobe. After staining, these cells were identified as the erythrosinophilic eta cells.

1969 ◽  
Vol 26 (7) ◽  
pp. 1837-1846 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. A. McKeown ◽  
A. P. van Overbeeke

Antibodies to porcine adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), Synacthen (synthetic corticotrophin, Ciba), and ovine prolactin were prepared in rabbits and the antisera were tested for specificity against several pituitary hormones. The gamma-globulin fractions of the antisera were conjugated with fluorescein isothiocyanate and the labelled antibodies were "purified" by column chromatography.Fresh-frozen sections of pituitary glands of adult migratory sockeye salmon were incubated with the antibody solutions and examined with a fluorescence microscope. The resulting antigen–antibody complex could be localized by re-photographing the same or alternate sections after fixation and staining. Anti-ACTH and anti-Synacthen appeared to be bound specifically by the epsilon cells, whereas anti-prolactin reacted with the eta cells of the rostral pars distalis. Pituitary glands collected at various stations along the migratory route, including one seawater sample, showed the same reactivity. Other glands were prepared for histological examination. Microspectrophotometric analysis of cell types showed that the granule density of the ACTH cells increased gradually during the later part of migration. In the prolactin cells, no change in granulation could be detected during entrance into the river or subsequent spawning migration.


1967 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. 662-673 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHIGERU MORIKAWA

The distribution of alkaline and acid ribonucleases (RNases) was investigated in bovine tissues using fluorescent antibody techniques. The immunochemical properties of the bovine RNases were also examined. Specific antibodies against acid and alkaline RNase obtained by immunizing rabbits with the corresponding antigens were conjugated with fluorescein isothiocyanate or tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate. Anti-alkaline RNase antibody reacted against alkaline RNase-A, and anti-acid RNase antibody reacted against two different acid RNases with no cross-reactivity between alkaline and acid RNases. Phosphate-buffered 10% formalin was the best general fixative among those examined, but some differences in staining results were observed depending upon the tissue and fixative employed. Two different patterns of distribution of alkaline RNase in pancreas and kidney were observed depending upon the fixative employed. The localization of RNases in bovine pancreas, liver, small intestine, kidney, spleen, lymph node, thymus, adrenal and heart were investigated and the physiologic roles of the RNases were discussed.


1982 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. R. HALL

Single pigeon anterior pituitary glands were incubated with or without a hypothalamus in media containing various drugs. Release of prolactin and growth hormone was quantified by an electrophoretic-densitometric method. The hypothalamus stimulated release of both prolactin and growth hormone from the pituitary gland. Dopamine did not affect hormone release from pituitary glands incubated alone, but inhibited hypothalamus-stimulated release of prolactin and augmented hypothalamus-stimulated release of growth hormone in a dose-related manner. The effects of dopamine were reversed by its antagonist, pimozide. Serotonin stimulated release of prolactin and inhibited release of growth hormone from pituitary–hypothalamus co-incubations, and these effects were blocked by its antagonist, methysergide. Thyrotrophin releasing hormone (TRH) stimulated release of both hormones directly from pituitary glands incubated alone. Dopamine now inhibited TRH-stimulated release of prolactin, without affecting TRH-stimulated release of growth hormone. These results indicate that the neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin, affect the in-vitro release of factors from the hypothalamus which control the secretion of prolactin and growth hormone. In addition, dopamine may inhibit release of prolactin directly from the pituitary gland, but only when secretion of prolactin is high initially.


1963 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 475-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Grinberg

ABSTRACT Radiologically thyroidectomized female Swiss mice were injected intraperitoneally with 131I-labeled thyroxine (T4*), and were studied at time intervals of 30 minutes and 4, 28, 48 and 72 hours after injection, 10 mice for each time interval. The organs of the central nervous system and the pituitary glands were chromatographed, and likewise serum from the same animal. The chromatographic studies revealed a compound with the same mobility as 131I-labeled triiodothyronine in the organs of the CNS and in the pituitary gland, but this compound was not present in the serum. In most of the chromatographic studies, the peaks for I, T4 and T3 coincided with those for the standards. In several instances, however, such an exact coincidence was lacking. A tentative explanation for the presence of T3* in the pituitary gland following the injection of T4* is a deiodinating system in the pituitary gland or else the capacity of the pituitary gland to concentrate T3* formed in other organs. The presence of T3* is apparently a characteristic of most of the CNS (brain, midbrain, medulla and spinal cord); but in the case of the optic nerve, the compound is not present under the conditions of this study.


1965 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Apostolakis

ABSTRACT A method for the extraction of prolactin from human pituitary glands is described. It is based on acetone drying, distilled water extraction, acetone and isoelectric precipitation. Two main products are obtained: Fraction R8 with a mean prolactin activity of 12.2 IU/mg and fraction U8 with a mean prolactin activity of 8.6 IU/mg. The former fraction does not contain any significant gonadotrophin activity and the latter contains on an average 50 HMG U/mg. In both cases contamination with ACTH and MSH is minimal. The growth hormone activity of both these fractions is low. It is postulated that in man too, prolactin and growth hormone are two distinct hormones. A total of 1250 human pituitary glands have been processed by this method. The mean prolactin content per pituitary gland has been found to be 73 IU.


1960 ◽  
Vol XXXIII (II) ◽  
pp. 255-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. S. Ramaswami ◽  
A. B. Lakshman

ABSTRACT By using enzymes, the gonadotrophic factors in the skipper-frog pituitary glands have been selectively inactivated or destroyed. By incubating a known number of pituitary gland homogenate with ptyalin in a constant temperature bath for 5–6 h the follicle-stimulating factor is inactivated; with trypsin or pepsin, the luteinizing factor is inactivated. Bioassay on gravid skipper-frogs indicate that the ptyalin digested homogenate brings about profuse spawning while the trypsin or pepsin digested homogenates do not. When a combination of ptyalin digested and trypsin digested homogenates is injected into fresh gravid skipper-frogs, poor spawning is brought about. These experiments show that the luteinizing factor alone brings about more profuse spawning than when it is combined with the follicle-stimulating factor. It is likely, therefore, that in the lower vertebrates the luteinizing factor of the pituitary gland plays a more predominant role. The exact proportions in which the different dosages for the control and test animals are administered are also tabulated.


1967 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 404-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. G. CARMICHAEL ◽  
STEPHANIE T. K. MANDER

The staining of amino groups by formazan when dehydrated paraffin sections are incubated in a mixture of hydroquinone and 3-(4,5-dimethyl thiazolyl-2)-2 ,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide at an acid pH is reported. The mechanism of this reaction and of the cytoplasmic deposition of formazan in fresh frozen sections incubated under similar conditions is investigated. It is shown that the oxidation of hydroquinone to semiquinone is responsible for the reaction, the tetrazole acting as electron acceptor. The tissue amino groups, exposed by dehydration and thermal shrinkage, and the nitrogen groupings of phosphobipid behave as "catalysts." The relevant properties of the hydroquinone-benzoquinone oxidation-reduction system are described, and the reactions between benzoquinone and tissue constituents are reviewed.


1984 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Mena ◽  
G. Martínez-Escalera ◽  
C. Clapp ◽  
C. E. Grosvenor

ABSTRACT Adenohypophysial prolactin of lactating rats was pulse-labelled by [3H]leucine injected i.v. at the time of removal of the pups. The [3H]prolactin concentration in the pituitary gland, analysed by polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis, progressively fell as the time from labelling to removal of the pituitary gland increased from 8 to 24 h, which suggests that there was a loss of hormone as it aged within the gland. Suckling effectively provoked the depletion–transformation of total and [3H]prolactin (extracted at pH 7·2) when applied after 8 h but not when applied after either 16 or 24 h after removing the pups. In rats whose pups were removed for 8 h, suckling also depleted–transformed [3H]prolactin labelled 4 h, but not that labelled 1 h before suckling. The pituitary glands of other lactating rats were labelled with [3H]leucine injected i.v. at various times before removing the glands and incubating them in medium 199. The secretion into the medium of [3H]prolactin labelled either 4, 8, 16 or 24 h beforehand was maximal during the first 30 min then declined from 30 to 240 min of incubation. However, secretion of prolactin labelled 1 h and 10 min beforehand reached a maximum after 0·5–1 h and 2 h of incubation respectively, then remained constant during the remainder of the 4-h incubation period. The total 4-h secretion of [3H]prolactin was greatest (65% of preincubation concentration) from those glands labelled 4 h before in contrast to those labelled 10 min (15%) or 1 (38%), 8 (34%), 16 (18%) or 24 h (26%) before incubation. Taken together, these data suggest that prolactin synthesized 4 h earlier is more likely to be released in response to physiological stimuli than is more recently formed prolactin or prolactin which has remained in the pituitary gland for 16 h or longer. J. Endocr. (1984) 101, 27–32


1983 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. McNicol ◽  
H. Thomson ◽  
C. J. R. Stewart

The distribution of specifically stained corticotrophic cells has been studied in the pituitary glands of 11 dogs with pituitary-dependent hyperadrenocorticism. The results suggest that the disease is not a single entity, and that some cases are caused by primary abnormality of the pituitary gland whereas others appear to be the result of dysfunction of the hypothalamus or central nervous system. The patterns correspond closely to those demonstrated in the human pituitary gland in Cushing's disease, and confirm that the canine disease is a useful model for the study of the pathogenesis of the variants of the condition.


1992 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2624-2632
Author(s):  
D Murphy ◽  
K Pardy ◽  
V Seah ◽  
D Carter

In thyroid hormone-depleted rats, the rate of transcription of the growth hormone (GH) gene in the anterior pituitary gland is lower than the rate in euthyroid controls, and there is a corresponding reduction in the abundance of the GH mRNA. Concomitantly, the poly(A) tail of the GH mRNA increases in length. Examination of nuclear RNA from anterior pituitary glands of control and thyroid hormone-depleted rats revealed no difference in the length of pre-mRNAs containing the first and last introns of the GH gene. However, mature nuclear GH RNA is differentially polyadenylated in euthyroid and hypothyroid animals. We suggest that the extent of polyadenylation of the GH transcript is regulated in the cell nucleus concomitant with or subsequent to the splicing of the pre-mRNA. Experiments with anterior pituitary gland explant cultures demonstrated that the GH mRNA from thyroid hormone-depleted rats is more stable than its euthyroid counterpart and that the poly(A) tail may contribute to the differential stability of free GH ribonucleoproteins.


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