HYPOPHYSIS CEREBRI 31 1 



to a small extent only in the glia cells. This pigment is neither 

 a fat nor a lipochrome, but is probably a product of decomposition 

 quantitatively increasing with age. In consequence of the in- 

 timate relationship between the anterior and posterior lobes of 

 the hypophysis, together with the penetration of epithelial cells 

 into the neuro-hypophysis, the latter contains a considerable pro- 

 portion of epithelial, glandular elements and products, all of which 

 are derived from the anterior lobe and, in a histological sense, 

 belong to it. Kohn is unable to confirm, from the morphological 

 standpoint, Joris's view that the posterior lobe of the hypophysis 

 is a secretory gland. 



The structural indifference of the posterior lobe of the hypo- 

 physis forms a remarkable contrast to the proved physiological 

 activity of the extract obtained from this portion of' the organ. 



Secretion. Owing to its histological characteristics, and 

 especially those presented by the anterior lobe, the hypophysis 

 has been accredited a secretory function, though the views adopted 

 concerning the nature of its secretory product are somewhat diver- 

 gent. The fat granules which it contains are, however, unani- 

 mously regarded as a physiological product of cellular secretion. 

 According to Erdheim, fine fat granules make their appearance at 

 the beginning of post-fcetal life, and these become progressively 

 larger until old age, when they are larger than nuclei. They are 

 found in all the cells, in the shape of rings and spheres as well 

 as in different vacuole forms. The granules in the chromophile 

 cells are large in size, but few in number; those in the adelo- 

 morphous cells are small and very numerous. They colour with 

 sudan, scarlet R. and osmium; they are soluble in ether and 

 alcohol ; and they are not double refractive. According to Thaon, 

 the treatment of sections stained with osmium reveals different 

 degrees of solubility, and he concludes from this that the granules 

 are composed of fats of different kinds. He finds that the fat 

 granules of the hypophysis contain little oleic acid, and believes 

 that they are combined with an albuminoid molecule. 



The cell granules represent another product of hypophysal 

 secretion. Saint Remy and Benda, more particularly, do not 

 regard the chromophile and chromophobe cells as different cell 

 varieties, but they believe them to represent different stages of 

 secretion on the part of a single cell variety. According to Benda, 

 the adelomorphous cells which contain no granules and only 

 isolated basophile fragments, are the young forms, the secretory 

 starting point; the cells filled with acidophile granules represent 

 the secretory climax ; while the pale nuclear groups filled with 

 dust-like amphophile granules are the product of the final secretory 

 stage. Benda believes that the acidophile granules represent the 

 measure of the secretory activity of the hypophysis cells; that 

 they are produced during functional activity, and that at the 

 resting stage their formation ceases. 



