Ultrastructure of the cell types of the anterior hypophysis in a lizard. I. Corticotrophs

Corticotrophs of the teiid lizard Cnemidophorus lemniscatus are situated in the rostral zone of the pars distalis. In normal animals, they are usually rounded cells with slightly eccentric vesicular nuclei, especially characterized by a lucent hyaloplasm and medium-sized secretory granules of uniform high density. Granules are almost spherical, with small angular deformations, and closely bounded by a fuzzy membrane. Many cells have only a few or a moderate number of granules, with large areas of cytoplasm devoid of them; in others, granules fill the supranuclear region. The cytoplasm exhibits numerous ribosomes, often in rosettes and mostly free, a series of loosely superimposed cisternae of rough endoplasmic reticulum, small dictyosomes, and elongate mitochondria of light matrix. Metyrapone administration during 2-8 days causes dramatic alterations in corticotrophs; they become hypertrophic and extensively degranulated, with a great development of the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus, eventually showing a row of large peripheral granules of uneven structure, enclosed in ample vesicles studded with ribosomes. A lesser degree of hypertrophy and degranulation of corticotrophs appears during the first two weeks after thyroidectomy or gonadectomy, and may be partially attributed to surgical stress. Well granulated enlarged corticotrophs, with hypertrophic endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus, are probably a result of hormonal imbalance in lizards of both sexes gonadectomized for one or two months.     

Morphological changes in the anterior lobe of the hypophysis in allotransplantation]

Under study were histological changes resulting from rejection of adenohypophysis allotransplantat without special influence upon the recipient immunity. The allotransplantat rejection was established to be accompanied by pronounced morphological changes in the adenohypophysis. Delta-basophils were the first to loose their granules, and beta-basophils showed more moderate degranulation. Acidophils were preserved for a longer period. The chromophobes were more resistant cellular elements. Simultaneously the cells were dying at all stages of their conversion. The fibrous connective tissue alone was observed at the site of allotransplantat 32-35 days after transplantation.     

Synthesis and renewal of proteins in duck anterior hypophysis in organ culture

In cultures of duck anterior pituitaries, the synthesis and renewal of the specific secretory protein prolactin and of total newly synthesized tissue proteins were studied. As concerns prolactin, assay of the tissue and culture media hormone content demonstrates de novo synthesis of prolactin in vitro at a constant rate during at least 2 wk. The prolactin content after 1 wk and after 2 wk of culture is the same and is similar to the initial content. The renewal time of this prolactin can be estimated at 28 or 48 hr. As concerns total proteins, the use of a chase after a short pulse of 5 min in the presence of tritiated L-leucine demonstrated that newly synthesized proteins are excreted into the culture medium from 30 min to 1 hr after the beginning of the chase. Therefore, the synthesis and excretion of proteins are two discontinuous phenomena. The migration rate of the total proteins was slower than that of prolactin, indicating that this hormone does not represent more than about half of the newly synthesized proteins. These conclusions are in good agreement with those based on high resolution radioautographic data previously obtained on the same material.     

Nuclear progesterone receptors and characterization of cytosol receptors in the rat hypothalamus and anterior hypophysis

Progesterone receptors in nuclei and cytosols from the hypothalamus and anterior hypophysis of oestrogen-primed immature and mature female rats were investigated. In the hypothalamic and hypophysial nuclei the binding and exchange of [³H]-R5020 with progesterone or R5020 was achieved after 2 h at 0–10°C, but rapidly degraded at 30°C. In addition, when unlabelled R5020 was added to the incubation tubes previously incubated with [³H]-R5020 at 0–10°C, unlabelled R5020 was found to exchange with [³H]-R5020 bound to nuclei, confirming that [³H]-R5020 binding is due to an exchange reaction. Scatchard analysis of the specific binding curves revealed high-affinity and low capacity binding. Progesterone receptor complexes extracted with 0.4 M KCl from purified and crude (800 g pellet) nuclei prepared from the hypothalamus and anterior hypophysis of the oestrogen-primed adult female rats incubated with [³H]-R5020 were identified in the vicinity of 5S by gradient centrifugation. From these results it is concluded that nuclear progesterone receptors exist in the hypothalamus and anterior hypophysis. Moreover, it is interesting to note that progestin binding sites resistant to extraction with 0.4 M KCl exist even in the purified hypothalamic and hypophysial nuclei.In the hypothalamic and anterior hypophysial cytosols an exchange reaction was observed at 0–10°C as in the nuclei. The 7S cytosol receptors at low ionic strength sedimented in the 4S region in a high salt medium (0.4 M KCl), both in the hypothalamus or hypophysis, suggesting a possible relationship between aggregate- and subunit receptors. Moreover, progesterone receptors in the hypothalamic and hypophysial cytosols were separated on polyacrylamide agarose gels electrophoretically from oestrogen- and androgen-receptors labelled with [³H]-R2858 and [³H]-R1881, respectively.The existence of nuclear progesterone receptors in the hypothalamus and anterior hypophysis, together with the cytosol receptors, provide further evidence for a possible role of the steroid-receptor interaction in the mechanism of the central action of progesterone.