Abstract
Introductionplurihormonality of pituitary adenomas is an ability of adenoma cells to produce more than one hormone. After the immunohistochemical analysis had become a routine part of the morphological study, a great number of adenomas appeared to be multihormonal in actual practice. We hypothesize that the same cells of a normal pituitary gland releases several hormones simultaneously.ObjectiveTo analyse a possible co-expression of hormones by the cells of the normal anterior pituitary of adult humans in autopsy material.Materials and methodsWe studied 10 pituitary glands of 4 women and 6 men with cardiovascular and oncological diseases. Double staining immunohistochemistry using 11 hormone combinations was performed in all the cases. These combinations were: prolactin/thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), prolactin/luteinizing hormone (LH), prolactin/follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), prolactin/adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), growth hormone (GH)/TSH, GH/LH, GH/FSH, GH/ACTH, TSH/LH, TSH/FSH, TSH/ACTH. Laser Confocal Scanning Microscopy with a mixture of primary antibodies was performed in 2 cases. These mixtures were ACTH/prolactin, FSH/prolactin, TSH/prolactin, ACTH/GH, and FSH/GH.ResultsWe found that the same cells of the normal adenohypophysis can co-express prolactin with ACTH, TSH, FSH, LH; GH with ACTH, TSH, FSH, LH, and TSH with ACTH, FSH, LH. The comparison of the average co-expression coefficients of prolactin, GH and TSH with other hormones showed that the TSH co-expression coefficient was significantly the least (9,5±6,9%; 9,6±7,8%; 1,0±1,3% correspondingly).ConclusionPlurihormonality of normal adenohypophysis is an actually existing phenomenon. Identification of different hormones in pituitary adenomas enables to find new ways to improve both diagnostic process and targeted treatment.
Highlights
Plurihormonality of pituitary adenomas is the ability of adenoma cells to produce more than one hormone
After the immunohistochemical analysis had become a routine part of the morphological study, a great number of adenomas appeared to be multihormonal in actual practice
We found that the same cells of the normal adenohypophysis can coexpress prolactin with adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH); growth hormone (GH) with ACTH, TSH, FSH, LH, and TSH with ACTH, FSH, LH
Summary
Plurihormonality of pituitary adenomas is the ability of adenoma cells to produce more than one hormone. The pituitary gland develops from 2 of different origin: an upward invagination in the roof of the primitive oral cavity (Rathke’s pouch) and an evagination from the floor of the third ventricle (pituitary stalk). The posterior pituitary and the stalk of the pituitary gland develop from a vertical evagination from the floor of the third ventricle. By this means the adenohypophysis is a derivative of epithelial hypophyseal pouch and is the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland. It is comprised of adenomeres consisting of secretory cells which are covered with reticular fibers and capillaries [3]
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