Abstract
Pineal gland is a very important neuroendocrine organ with many physiological functions such as regulating circadian rhythm. Radiologically, the pineal gland volume is clinically important because it is usually difficult to distinguish small pineal tumors via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Although many studies have estimated the pineal gland volume using different techniques, to the best of our knowledge, there has so far been no stereological work done on this subject. The objective of the current paper was to determine the pineal gland volume using stereological methods and by the region of interest (ROI) on MRI. In this paper, the pineal gland volumes were calculated in a total of 62 subjects (36 females, 26 males) who were free of any pineal lesions or tumors. The mean ± SD pineal gland volumes of the point-counting, planimetry, and ROI groups were 99.55 ± 51.34, 102.69 ± 40.39, and 104.33 ± 40.45 mm3, respectively. No significant difference was found among the methods of calculating pineal gland volume (P > 0.05). From these results, it can be concluded that each technique is an unbiased, efficient, and reliable method, ideally suitable for in vivo examination of MRI data for pineal gland volume estimation.
Highlights
The human pineal gland, a part of the diencephalon, is a small neuroendocrine organ that has a function in the circadian rhythm by the secretion of melatonin neurohormone [1]
Stereological methods using the Cavalieri principle have been widely applied on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sections to estimate volume of brain and internal brain compartments
We examined the effects of age and sex on the pineal gland volumes determined by region of interest (ROI), planimetry, and point counting, using a linear regression model and the effects of age and sex were not significant (P > 0.05)
Summary
The human pineal gland, a part of the diencephalon, is a small neuroendocrine organ that has a function in the circadian rhythm by the secretion of melatonin neurohormone [1]. It is a circumventricular organ because of its deep location in the subarachnoid cistern surrounding the surface of the third ventricle [2, 3]. The pineal gland is a rounded or crescent-shaped structure like a pine cone and it is attached by the stalk to the diencephalon and the stalk lines the pineal recess whose inferior lip links the pineal gland to the posterior commissure, and superior lip to the habenular commissure [4]
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