THE ANATOMY OF THE PITUITARY BODY 



disorders of the condition. ^According to Nitzescu and Bra- 

 tiano (1936), changes in the oxyphils follow the administra- 

 tion of enormous doses of vitamin D to the dog. Stein (1935) 

 reviewed the literature dealing with alterations in the pitui- 

 tary as a result of a deficiency of vitamin E. He himself could 

 find no difference in the size or weight of the various lobes or 

 in the percentage of different cells by comparing the hypoph- 

 yses of female rats cured of a vitamin-E deficiency with 

 those of rats on a vitamin-E deficient diet. Confirmatory re- 

 sults were obtained by Miiller and Miiller (1937). However, 

 in three male rats (on a diet free from vitamin E for 280 days) 

 the authors found moderate castration changes in the ante- 

 rior pituitary. 



The pituitary has been successfully transplanted into the 

 anterior chamber of the eyes of rabbits and guinea pigs by 

 Haterius and his colleagues. ^^ Such grafts become attached to 

 the iris and, like similar homoplastic grafts attached to the 

 subconjunctival tissue, are composed mainly of basophils 

 about two months after transplantation. The ocular grafts in 

 hypophysectomized guinea pigs caused an increase in the 

 number of ovarian follicles with uterine hypertrophy and 

 persistent oestrus. No atrophy of the thyroid or adrenals oc- 

 curred. The authors point out that inadequate vasculariza- 

 tion and the absence of a nerve supply may account for the 

 lack of a secretion of luteinizing hormone (no complete fol- 

 licular maturation or ovulation or corpus luteum formation). 

 Martins (1936) found that pituitary transplants (in kidney 

 or in anterior chamber of eye) had little effect on the symp- 

 toms of hypophysial deficiency in five rats receiving the 

 transplants 16-100 days after hypophysectomy. Also he 

 transplanted the pituitary into gonadectomized nonhypo- 

 physectomized rats. Castration-cells could be found in the 

 pituitary in situ but not in the grafts 1-3 months later. The 



"Haterius, Schweizer, and Charipper (1935) and Schweizer, Charipper, and 

 Haterius (1937). 



[27] 



