scholarly journals CLASSIFICATIONS OF ANTERIOR PITUITARY CELL TYPES WITH IMMUNOENZYME HISTOCHEMISTRY

1970 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAUL K. NAKANE

Peroxidase-labeled antibody method was used to localize the six hormones of the anterior pituitary gland of male rats both at the light and electron microscopic levels. Growth hormone (GH), adenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), prolactin and thyrotropic hormone (TSH) were found in separate cells. Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) were frequently found in the same cell. TSH cells were scarce and were located at the periphery of the gland. The anterior-ventral portion of the gland contained few or no GH cells, ACTH cells, prolactin cells and TSH cells, but was filled with gonadotropic cells. In an area near the intermediate lobe, GH cells, ACTH cells and TSH cells were not found. GH cells and prolactin cells may be identified in electron micrographs without the aid of immunocytochemistry; however, ACTH cells and TSH cells may not be distinguished by their ultrastructural characteristics alone. Gonadotropic cells may be identified but their hormone content cannot be determined. The positive identification of these latter four cell types requires immunocytochemical methods.

1987 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Smets ◽  
B Velkeniers ◽  
E Finne ◽  
A Baldys ◽  
W Gepts ◽  
...  

Localization and ultrastructural maturation of prolactin (PRL) and growth hormone (GH) cells were studied in pituitaries from neonatal, immature (4-6 weeks old), and adult rats (2-3 months old) by light and electron microscopic immunocytochemistry. The distribution pattern of these cells did not change with age. Both cell types were concentrated laterodorsally, with PRL cells adjacent to the intermediate lobe and GH cells nearer the center of the pars distalis. Labeling density of the immunogold reaction was highest for both hormones in immature rats. In neonatal and immature rats, one PRL cell type with granules 200 nm in diameter was present. In adult rats, two types of PRL cells were present: one containing polymorphous granules measuring about 500 nm (prevalent in female rats), the other with spherical granules about 200 nm (prevalent in male rats). No changes were detected in GH cells during maturation.


1971 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Schelin ◽  
P. M. Lundin

ABSTRACT The morphology of normal and neoplastic acidophil cells of the rat pituitary has been studied by electron microscopy with special reference to the size and shape of the secretory granules. In the female rats, pregnant or non-pregnant, growth hormone (GH) cells and prolactin cells are easily separated, but in the male rats this separation is very uncertain. Acidophil tumours with granules similar to the GH type or to the prolactin type can be induced with stilboestrol treatment. These results indicate a close relationship between the two types of acidophil cells. They may be derived from a common progenitor which can be differentiated into either GH or prolactin cell or they may represent one cell type capable of producing both hormones.


1984 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-NP ◽  
Author(s):  
M. O. Dada ◽  
G. T. Campbell ◽  
C. A. Blake

ABSTRACT We analysed cell types in the pars distalis of normal young adult male and female rats with respect to their percentages and the relative volumes they occupy. In male rats the percentages of the cell types were: prolactin 49·80, GH 22·67, LH 5·04, FSH 4·22, ACTH 2·93 and TSH 2·09, The volume densities were: prolactin 20·48, GH 20·95, LH 7·34, FSH 6·73, ACTH 3·75 and TSH 3·19. In female rats the percentages of the cell types were: prolactin 52·40, GH 20·30, LH 5·89, FSH 4·06, ACTH 2·53, TSH 2·40 and the volume densities were: prolactin 28·09, GH 20·86, LH 8·11, FSH 5·46, ACTH 3·49 and TSH 2·91. The percentages of pars distalis cells which did not stain with the antisera to the six classical hormones were 17·47 in male and 16·48 in female rats. The results suggest that (1) in both sexes the number (N) of prolactin cells > N of GH cells > N of gonadotrophs > N of TSH or ACTH cells, (2) the percentage of each cell type was similar in both sexes, (3) the volume density (Vv) of prolactin cells was greater than the Vv of GH cells in female but not in male rats and in both sexes the Vv of GH cells > the Vv of gonadotrophs > the Vv of TSH or ACTH cells, (4) in both sexes the volume (V) of prolactin cells < the V of GH cells < the V of gonadotrophs, the V of TSH cells or the V of ACTH cells, (5) the V of prolactin cells was greater in female than in male rats and (6) approximately 17% of the cells in the pars distalis of both sexes did not contain 'immunoreactive' prolactin, GH, LH, FSH, TSH or ACTH. J. Endocr. (1984) 101, 87–94


Author(s):  
Max C. Poole ◽  
V.B. Mahesh ◽  
Allen Costoff

Quantitative stereology of liver parenchymal cells has previously been reported (1,2), but there have been few studies of morphometry applied to a heterogenous tissue (3). Due to the presence of several different cell types, it is difficult to study the synthesis and secretion of hormones in cells of the anterior pituitary by conventional biochemical means. In this study prolactin cells were analyzed using morphometry during different times of the rat estrous cycle, and were correlated with changing levels of prolactin in the serum and pituitary gland.Vaginal smears of 60 day old Holtzman rats were monitored through three estrous cycles, and only four day cycling rats were used. Groups of six animals were decapitated at 4 P.M., 6 P.M., 10 P.M. and 12 midnight of proestrus and one half of the pituitary was processed for electron microscopy and the other half for assay.


1970 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 450-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALICE E. SWOPE ◽  
RAYMOND H. KAHN ◽  
JAMES L. CONKLIN

The peroxidase-labeled antibody (P-Ab) technique was compared on adjacent sections with a permanganate-Alcian Blue (AB)-aldehyde fuchsin (AF) procedure on the anterior pituitary gland of young adult, female rats. The cells that stained with both AB and AF (AB, AF+) were large and polygonal and frequently possessed long processes; these cells correspond to those which reacted with the TSH antibody. The cells that stained only with AF reacted with the FSH antibody in the P-Ab technique and the cells which reacted with the LH antibody were not stained with either AB or AF.AB,AF+ cells ("TSH" cells) were distributed throughout the anterior lobe except along the lateral and dorsal peripheries of the gland and adjacent to the intermediate lobe, while both the AF+ ("FSH" cells) and the "LH" cells were distributed throughout the anterior lobe.


1999 ◽  
Vol 161 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
L Givalois ◽  
S Li ◽  
G Pelletier

The involvement of the endogenous benzodiazepine, octadecaneuropeptide (ODN), in the regulation of proopiomelanocortin (POMC) mRNA expression at the pituitary level, and the influence of adrenal and gonadal steroids, have been studied using a quantitative in situ hybridization technique. I.c.v. injection of ODN (4 micrograms/kg) in sham-operated rats induced a 17 and 7% decrease in the POMC mRNA expression in anterior and intermediate pituitary lobes respectively. To determine the reciprocal involvement of adrenal and gonadal steroids in this regulation, animals were adrenalectomized and/or castrated. Adrenalectomy significantly increased POMC mRNA expression by 48% at the anterior pituitary level, but induced a 10% decrease of hybridization signal at the intermediate pituitary lobe (vs control sham-operated). Adrenal ablation reversed the effect induced by ODN and increased POMC mRNA expression at the anterior and intermediate pituitary levels by 60 and 10% respectively, compared with control sham-operated. By contrast, castration, which produced a decrease in POMC mRNA in the anterior pituitary and an increase in the intermediate lobe, did not modify the negative influence of ODN observed in sham-operated animals. When rats were adrenalectomized and castrated, the adrenalectomy influence was predominant at the anterior pituitary level, since ODN increased significantly the hybridization signal (+68% vs control sham-operated), while the castration influence was predominant at the intermediate pituitary level, since ODN induced an 11% decrease in POMC mRNA signal compared with control sham-operated. These studies indicate that, in vivo, the decrease in POMC mRNA expression in the anterior and intermediate pituitary induced by an endogenous benzodiazepine is differently modulated by adrenal and gonadal steroids, with a predominant influence of adrenal steroids at the anterior pituitary level and gonadal steroids at the intermediate pituitary level.


1981 ◽  
Vol 29 (1A_suppl) ◽  
pp. 167-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald A. Keefer

A refined version of the combined dry-mount auto-radiographic-immunocytochemical technique (Keefer DA, Stumpf WE, Petrusz P: Cell Tissue Res 166:25, 1976) is described in detail. In vivo nuclear estrogen uptake is measured by silver grain counting in immunocytochemically stained gonadotropes (G), somatotropes (S), lactotropes (L), corticotropes (C), and thyrotropes (T) of male rats. In rats 1 day after orchidectomy and adrenalectomy, the order of nuclear estrogen uptake was S = L G = C T, with T concentrating less than half as much radioactivity as L or S. Fifteen percent of anterior pituitary cells neither concentrated estrogen nor stained immunocytochemically. Estrogen uptake was examined in gonadotropes 1, 14, and 50 days after orchidectomy and was found to be identical at all three times. Estrogen uptake in gonadotropes of rats 14 days following orchidectomy and treatment with progesterone was reduced significantly. Guidelines for reliable quantification of the autoradiographic data is discussed.


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