[Contribution of immunohistochemistry to the cytological study of the adenohypophysis]

Abstract

In the first chapter, the initial studies using immuno-histochemical methods for the cytological analysis of the adenohypophysis are presented; the different trends of the actual groups of research workers are summarized. In the second chapter are described, with details utillsation, some ser viceable techniques for experimental or anatomo-pathological studies of the pituitary gland; immunization of animals against hypophysial hormones, application to the study of the hypophysis (conditions of fixation, analysis of the subsequent times of histological techniques, immunohistochemical reactions [immuno-fluorescence and immuno-enzymatic reactions], controls of these reactions, applications on semi-thin and ultra-thin sections). In the third charpter are studied the results of this immunohistochemical analysis of the mammalian hypophysis: description of different cell types first in the anterior lobe then in the intermediate lobe; these observations are discussed. A special subdivision concerns the study of the human pituitary gland in normal and pathological conditions, in adults and foetuses. In the fourth chapter the results obtained in the study of the adenohypophysis of non mammalian Vertebrates: Fish, Amphibians, Reptiles, and Birds, are grouped. An extensive bibliography concludes this review (references until 1977). Illustrations, furnished by several french workers, are adapted to the different descriptions.