210 



HYPOPHYSIS AND GONADOTROPHIC HORMONES 



phils, and chromophobes. The acidophils of 

 Russfield are the a-cells of Romeis, the 

 basophils are the conspicuous and strongly 

 granulated ^-cells of Romeis. Russfield er- 

 roneously considers these "normal" baso- 

 phils to be the 8-cells of Romeis. The am- 

 phophils consist of lightly granulated cells 

 — 8-, y-, and c-cells — but may include «- 

 and ^-cells if these are lightly granulated. 

 Hypertrophic amphophils are in the main 

 y-cells whose cytoplasm and granules have 

 been lost by postmortem autolysis, to which 

 these cells are especially sensitive. 



From the study of hypophyses of pa- 

 tients with endocrine disturbances (Burt 





.■Cv 



Fig. 3.23 {upper). Sod ion of tlio pars distalis of 

 a patient who suffered from the Gushing syndrome. 

 Many typical Grooke's cells are present. The hy- 

 ahnized zones appear homogeneous at this magnifi- 

 cation. The remaining granules are stained in llic 

 manner typical of puri)le /i-cell graTuilation. AF, 

 azan, X 900. 



Fig. 3.24 (lower). ^wVww of a liuiuaii liypojihysis 

 showing a basophil adenoma composed of cells with 

 the staining leactions of purple ^-cells. In material 

 fixed in formalin the purple ^-cells are strongly 

 stained by aldehydo-fuchsui (.\1''). From a speci- 

 men sui)iilicd 1)V Professor Dorothv Ru.ssell. AF, 

 X5. 



and Velardo, 1954) and of hypophyseal 

 tumors (Russfield, Reiner and Klaus, 1956) , 

 Russfield concludes that amphophils are 

 capable of producing all the anterior lobe 

 hormones, but there is no implication that 

 they produce all these hormones simultane- 

 ously. This seems to mean no more than 

 that large amounts of hormone may be 

 secreted by lightly granulated cells. Russ- 

 field's results are of importance in directing 

 attention to the fact that more information 

 of endocrinologic significance can be ob- 

 tained from the study of lightly granulated 

 cells than by the enumeration of ''typical" 

 acidophils and basophils; they do not con- 

 flict with the view that the cells producing 

 different hormones are characterized by dif- 

 ferent types of granules, whose specific 

 character can be distinguished by appropri- 

 ate staining methods. 



F. THE PUKPLE /3-CELL IN THE 

 GUSHING SYNDROME 



The purple /?- or intermedin-secreting 

 cells are only lightly granulated in infants. 

 The amount of granulation in these cells as 

 measured by the intensity of the PAS re- 

 action increases with age in a smooth con- 

 tinuous fashion which is neither accelerated 

 nor retarded by puberty or the menopause 

 (Herlant and Lison, 1951). The cells are 

 not affected by pregnancy and the prog- 

 ressive increase in granule content follows 

 the same course in both sexes. 



The functional state of the purple /3-cells 

 a])pears to be determined by the level of 

 circulating corticosteroids and has not been 

 shown to be related to any other factor. Al- 

 though the physiologic significance of the re- 

 sponses of the purple j8-cells to variations in 

 tlie corticosteroid level is concealed in the 

 mystery which envelops the whole subject 

 of the function of intermedin secretion in 

 mammals, the responses themselves are 

 definite, striking, and consistent. High levels 

 of corticosteroids stimulate, low levels de- 

 press the cytologic activity of these cells. 



The characteristic changes in the Gushing 

 syndrome are a degranulation and hyalini- 

 zation of the purpl(> /3-cells. The changes 

 were first dcscnhcd by Crooke (1935), 

 after whom the liyaHnized cells were named 

 (Fig. 3.23). In my own observations I 

 have found that it is only the jiurple ^-cells 



