HYPOPHYSEAL MORPHOLOGY 



211 



which are affected by hyalinization. More- 

 over, the basophil cells which invade the 

 neural lobe and are all purple y8-cells are 

 sometimes hyalinized in the same way as 

 the cells in the pars distalis. Hyalinization 

 does not alter the staining reactions of the 

 granules that remain in the hyalinized cells. 

 It is notable, however, that the purple /3-cells 

 which have invaded the neural lobe are 

 normally less active and smaller in size 

 than those that remained in the pars dis- 

 talis. This difference in activity persists in 

 the Gushing syndrome and, in consequence, 

 the purple /3-cells in the neural lobe show 

 a lesser degree of hyalinization than those in 

 the pars distalis ; they may indeed not show 

 any hyalinization in hypophyses in which 

 many of the cells in the pars distalis are af- 

 fected. 



Degranulation of Crooke's cells may be 

 complete and the cytoplasm may be com- 

 l)letely hyalinized. More characteristic is a 

 partial degranulation having an annular 

 distribution. The periphery of the cell may 

 be granulated and the granules be pre- 

 served around the nucleus and Golgi body, 

 or degranulation may occur around the 

 nucleus and Golgi body with preserva- 

 tion of granules at the periphery. Some- 

 times a degranulated zone occurs with pres- 

 ervation of granules both at the periphery 

 and in proximity to the nucleus and Golgi 

 body. Hyalinization occurs in the degranu- 

 lated zone and differs from the mature hy- 

 alinization of thyrotrophs and most gonado- 

 trophs in the rat, in that the hyaline area is 

 not sharply limited. The surface of the 

 hyalinized zone shows a fine vesicular struc- 

 ture which gives to the hyalinized zone a 

 faintly ground-glass appearance. Probably 

 the hyalinization is similar to that of the 

 filigree cells described by Farquhar and 

 Rinehart (1954) in the rat. 



The hyaline substance is not colored by 

 the PAS reagent and has little affinity for 

 basic dyes. 



Crooke's cells are in general large cells 

 with vesicular nonpyknotic nuclei and eas- 

 ily visible Golgi bodies. Both McLetchie 

 (1942a, b) and Mellgren (1945) agree with 

 Crooke that these appearances indicate in- 

 creased secretory activity. 



In the original description of the Gushing 



syndrome the presence of a basophil ade- 

 noma in the hypophysis was noticed in three 

 cases. Gushing emphasized the role of these 

 adenomas as a primary factor in the causa- 

 tion of the syndrome, but considered it pos- 

 sible that the symptoms were due to stimu- 

 lation of adrenocortical secretion by the 

 basophil adenoma (Hubble, 1949) . However, 

 such basophil adenomas are not found in all 

 cases of the syndrome and are, moreover, 

 not infrequently found in hypophyses of 

 persons in the older age groups who have not 

 exhibited any specific endocrine disturb- 

 ances during life. 



The cells of basophil adenomas found in 

 association with Grooko's cells contain baso- 

 phil granules with the same staining re- 

 actions as those of purple ^-cells (Fig. 

 3.24). The cells of the adenomas are usu- 

 ally not hyalinized. In this respect they are 

 similar to basophil adenomas induced in the 

 rat hypophysis by thyroxine deficiency or 

 by castration. The association of basophil 

 adenomas with hyalinization indicates a 

 long continued strong stimulation of the af- 

 fected cells (Purves, 1956). 



G. crooke's cell changes produced by 



CORTICOSTEROID OR CORTICOTROPHIN 

 ADMINISTRATION 



Laqueur (1950, 1951) and Thornton 

 (1956) have reported Grooke's cell changes 

 in patients treated with cortisone. Golden, 

 Bondy and Sheldon (1950), Dreyfus and 

 Zara ( 1951 ), and Thornton (1956) have also 

 reported similar changes after treatment 

 with corticotrophin. The corticotrophin pre- 

 sumably acts by stimulating the adrenal 

 cortex, the secretion from which is the ef- 

 fective agent in producing the hyaliniza- 

 tion. From Thornton's observations it ap- 

 pears that hyalinization is produced in a 

 few days by effective doses of corticos- 

 teroids and regresses equally rapidly after 

 cessation of treatment. Grooke's cells there- 

 fore indicate a high level of corticosteroids 

 in the circulation in the last few days before 

 death. The erroneous assumption that the 

 basophil cells which were hyalinized in the 

 Gushing syndrome were pars anterior cells 

 caused some investigators to postulate that 

 the hyalinization was the expression of an 

 increased secretion of thyrotrojihin or gonad- 



