THE PITUITARY BODY 



sacrificed at various intervals after complete pancreatectomy 

 was made by Fichera and Ferroni (1937), The authors be- 

 lieved that the pituitary undergoes hypertrophy and that a 

 marked increase in the proportion of reserve cells at the 

 expense of the oxyphils takes place as a result of the opera- 

 tion. 



4. The parathyroids. — The pituitary of male rats after 

 parathyroidectomy or repeated injections of parathyroid hor- 

 mone or a solution of CaCU was studied by Takahisa (1936). 

 It was his belief that the principal alteration is in the oxy- 

 phils — the proportion increasing with parathyroid deficiency 

 and diminishing if there is an excess of parathyroid hormone 

 in the body's circulating fluids. The administration of a solu- 

 tion of CaCL appeared to cause changes resembling those of 

 parathyroid deficiency. 



5. The thymus. — Clark, Steinberg, and Rowntree (1936) 

 investigated the effects of a thymus extract on the distribu- 

 tion of cells in the pars glandularis of the rat. Especially in 

 very young male rats growing at a precocious rate (age: 

 0-13 days) the percentage of oxyphils was almost twice that 

 in the anterior pituitary of control animals. The authors cor- 

 relate this change with the rapid growth observed. In female 

 rats of a corresponding age, however, the increase in the pro- 

 portion of oxyphils was only about 25 per cent. In older rats 

 (age: 13-45 days) no differences were found. 



6. Attempts to correlate changes in the human pituitary with 

 alterations in other endocrine glands or with disease syndromes. 

 — The syndrome of Gushing, which he named pituitary 

 basophilism, now appears not to be related to a basophil 

 adenoma of the pars glandularis as Gushing first believed. 

 Susman (1934) found adenomata in 8 per cent of 260 human 

 pituitaries which he examined. Nearly half the adenomata 

 (eight of seventeen) were basophilic; yet Gushing's syndrome 

 was not present. On the other hand, the syndrome may be 

 present in the absence of a basophil adenoma. Grooke (1935) 

 made the important observation that a hyaline change in the 



[24] 



