Immunohistochemical and histologic demonstration of thyrotropic cells of the human adenohypophysis.

Abstract

Immunostaining with an antiserum shown to react specifically with thyroid-stimulating hormone has delineated the thyrotropic cells of the human adenohypophysis. In presumably normal pituitaries these cells occupied principally the anteromedial area of the pars distalis and varied widely in abundance. Thyrotropic cells were virtually absent from the pituitaries of several patients with no known thyroid dysfunction but were abundant in the mucoid wedge area of a gland from a patient with diffuse thyroid hyperplasia and were very numerous throughout and formed a microadenoma in the gland of a patient with Schmidt's syndrome. Immunostaining intensity varied widely in a given pituitary. The cells with the most basophilia in histologic procedures were the most intensely immunoreactive, and those with slight acidophilia immunostained the least strongly. Most of the thyrotropic cells were chromophobic with the reference stains and displayed intermediate immunoreactivity. Synonyms from earlier histologic classific...