ANATOMY OF THE PITUITARY BODY 



THE BLOOD VESSELS, LYMPH VESSELS, AND NERVES 

 OF THE PITUITARY BODY 



The blood vessels and lymph vessels of the pituitary body. — 

 The arterial vessels of the pituitary body of mammals like 

 the dog and man arise from the internal carotids and the 

 circle of Willis. Most of the vessels accompany the stalk, 

 although there may be a small branch supplying the pars 

 neuralis independently (Dandy and Goetsch, 1910; Basir, 

 1932). Apparently the vascular supply of the pars glandu- 

 laris is the best. Within the pars glandularis are found large 

 sinusoids lined with endothelium, but no arteries or veins. 

 The pars tuberalis is better supplied with vessels than the 

 pars neuralis, but the pars intermedia is relatively avascular. 



Recently, unique veins participating in the circulation of 

 blood in both the pituitary and the hypothalamus have been 

 described by Popa and Fielding (1930). Veins receiving blood 

 from all parts of the pituitary, including the pars tuberalis, 

 ascend in the stalk and enter the hypothalamus where they 

 form a capillary network. These veins were called the hypo- 

 physio-portal vessels by Popa and Fielding, and have been 

 recognized in the stalk, at least, by others (e.g., Pietsch, 

 1930). The diagram of Figure 4, from one of the papers of 

 Popa and Fielding, illustrates the vascular supply of the hu- 

 man pituitary but is distorted to show clearly the course of 

 the hypophysio-portal vessels. 'Espinasse (1933) has studied 

 the embryologic development of these vessels, which he iden- 

 tifies as originating from the arteries of the brain. The arach- 

 noidal sheaths common to cerebral vessels (Virchow-Robin 

 spaces) accompany some of the pituitary vessels (Hughson, 

 1922, 1924) but not the hypophysio-portal vessels (Basir, 

 1932; 'Espinasse, 1933; Basir and Reddy, 1934). 



Brander (1932) described a communication between the 

 residual lumen of the full-term human fetus and a venous 

 sinus which, almost enveloping the gland, opened into the 

 venous channels of the marrow of the sphenoid bone; this 



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