CYTOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN 



CASTRATION AND THYROIDECTOMY 



BASOPHILS IN THE RAT 



HYPOPHYSIS 



Introduction 



IN VIEW of the voluminous literature which has accumulated on the pituitary 

 of the rat, it seems remarkable that there is no agreement on the identity or 

 lack of identity of castration and thyroidectomy basophils. The question still 

 exists whether they differ morphologically to such a degree that they may be 

 considered different entities. Furthermore it is not settled whether these cells 

 arise from the same or different stem cells or whether they are the same or 

 different physiologically. In this paper it is our purpose to deal only with the 

 morphological aspect of the problem. In a later commvmication, we shall state 

 the results of experiments dealing with certain aspects of the physiology of 



these cells. 



Historical Review 



The effect of castration upon the anterior lobe of the rat has been discussed 

 in such admirable treatises as those of Severinghaus.^"* Studies dealing with the 

 anterior-lobe changes after thyroidectomy have also been reviewed in recent 

 years by Severinghaus''^ and by Zeckwer and co-workers." 



Agreement exists regarding some points of similarity and difference in the 

 histology of the anterior lobe after the two operations. The granulated acido- 

 phils of the rat pituitary disappear after thyroidectomy, according to Hohlweg 

 and Junkmann;'' Severinghaus;^ Zeckwer;" and Guyer and Claus.^ It is also true 

 that, in the rat, after both thyroidectomy and castration, there is an increase 

 in the number and size of the basophils. In both conditions, basophil vacuola- 

 tion is sooner or later a prominent feature. That these changes in the baso- 

 phil are consequences of castration was established by the Avork of Addison," 

 Schleidt,'" Lehmann," Nukariya,"^ and others. That such transitions in baso- 

 phils followed thyroidectomy was established by Kojima;" Hohlweg and 

 Junkmann;' Severinghaus, Smelser and Clark;' Zeckwer and co-workers;" and 

 Guyer and Glaus.* 



In 1934 Severinghaus, Smelser and Clark,^ describing the basophils after 

 thyroidectomy, reported the following: "The basophils are increased in num- 

 ber, are of maximum size, and give to the pituitary the castrate appearance. 

 Many have deeply chromatic elongated nuclei. Large numbers of typical cas- 

 tration cells are present." In several later publications Severinghaus has ex- 

 pressed the opinion that, except for the rapidity Vvith which the changes in the 

 basophils take place, they are essentially the same after castration and thyroid- 

 ectomy. 



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