Changes in adenohypophyseal cytology and nucleic acid content in the rat 32 days after bilateral adrenalectomy and the chronic injection of cortisol.

Abstract

Control, adrenalectomized, and cortisol-treated rats were maintained under rigidly controlled conditions, and the adenohypophyses were examined histologically with two staining procedures which differentiate six distinct cell types. Only one cell type demonstrated cytological evidence of increased synthetic activity 32 days after adrenalectomy (the changes were, however, minimal) and decreased synthetic activity following the chronic injection of cortisol. This cell type, which we designate as the corticotroph, would be classed as a chromophobe (no stainable granules) with use of standard histological techniques, but is, in fact, as Herlant's Tetrachrome demonstrates, a distinct acidophilic cell type different from the prolactin cell and the somatotroph. The determination of adenohypophyseal DNA and RNA revealed no evidence of increased protein synthetic activity following bilateral adrenalectomy, but did reveal evidence of decreased protein synthetic activity following the chronic injection of cortisol.