THE PITUITARY BODY 



have been made by Ellison and Wolfe (1934-35)- Part of 

 their data is reproduced in Table IV and illustrates the strik- 

 ing changes which occur particularly in the proportion of 

 basophils (including castration-cells). Severinghaus (1933) 

 observed that the size of the oxyphils progressively dimin- 

 ished after the castration of adult rats so that 46 days after 

 castration the average sectional area of the oxyphil cell was 

 approximately 54 per cent of that of the normal. 



TABLE IV 



The Effect of Gonadectomy on the Distribution of the Cells 

 OF the Pars Glandularis of the Rat 



(Ellison and Wolfe, 1934-35; the Standard Deviations Have Not Been Included) 



To determine whether the castration changes result from 

 the loss of the germinal epithelium or that of the interstitial 

 tissue, two types of experiments have been performed in rats. 

 Male rats have been made cryptorchid so that considerable 

 degeneration of the germinal epithelium occurs without ap- 

 parent damage to the interstitial tissue (Desclin, 1934; Elli- 

 son and Wolfe, Martins and De Mello, 1935; and others). 

 Usually, but not invariably, the pars glandularis then resem- 

 bles that of castration, but the changes are never so pro- 

 nounced as after operative castration. Likewise after irradi- 

 ation of the testes (X-rays) there may be pronounced degen- 

 erative changes in the germinal epithelium, but apparently 



[26] 



