Abstract
The effects of dietary thyroxine on the immunoreactivity of cells in the pars distalis of the adenohypophysis in dwarf (dw/dw) mice were determined by ultrastructural immunocytochemistry. In nontreated dwarfs only adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) cells and luteinizing hormone (LH) cells showed positive reactions to their respective antibodies, whereas no cells showed immunoreactivity to antibodies to growth hormone (GH), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), or prolactin (Prl). In dwarfs supplemented postnatally with dietary thyroxine for 9 wks, the treatment failed to produced immunoreactive GH, TSH or Prl cells. However, LH cells became more prominent and fully developed, with denser concentrations of immunoreactive particles overlying the secretory granules than occurred in nontreated dwarfs. In thyroxine-treated dwarfs, ACTH cells were similar in ultrastructural features and immunoreactivity to those in nontreated dwarfs.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allaerts W, Carmeliet P, Denef C (1990) New perspectives in the function of pituitary folliculo-stellate cells. Mol Cell Endocrinol 71:73–81
Baker BL, Gross DS (1978) Cytology and distribution of secretory cell types in the mouse hypophysis as demonstrated with immunocytochemistry. Am J Anat 153:193–216
Bartke A (1965) The response of two types of dwarf mice to growth hormone, thyrotropin, and thyroxine. Gen Comp Endocrinol 5:418–426
Bartke A (1971) The maintenance of gestation and the initiation of lactation in the mouse in the absence of pituitary prolactin. J Reprod Fert 27:121–124
Bartke A, Goldman BD, Bex F, Dalterio S (1977) Effects of prolactin (PRL) on pituitary and testicular function in mice with hereditary Prl deficiency. Endocrinology 101:1760–1766
Bartke A, Parkening TA, Collins TJ, Amador AG (1987) Treatment with thyroxine induces persistent elevation of plasma gonadotropin levels in genetically hypthyroid Snell dwarf mice. Neuroendocrinology 9:85–92
Cheng TC, Beamer WG, Phillips JA III, Bartke A, Mallonee RL (1983) Etiology of growth hormone deficiency in Little, Ames, and Snell dwarf mice. Endocrinology 113:1669–1678
Eicher EM, Beamer WG (1980) New mouse dw allele: genetic location and effects on lifespan and growth hormone levels. J Hered 71:187–190
Elftman H, Wegelius O (1959) Anterior pituitary cytology of the dwarf mouse. Anat Rec 135:43–47
Evans RM, Birnberg NC, Rosenfeld MG (1982) Glucocorticoid and thyroid hormones transcriptionally regulate growth hormone gene expression. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 79:7659–7663
Lewis UJ (1967) Growth hormone of normal and dwarf mice. Endocrinol Memoirs 15:179–191
Li S, III Crenshaw EB, Rawson EJ, Simmons DM, Swanson LW, Rosenfeld MG (1990) Dwarf locus mutants lacking three pituitary cell types result from mutations in the POU-domain gene pit-1. Nature 347:528–533
Marshak A (1938) Gonadotropic hormones in the hereditary dwarf mouse. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 38:226–228
Martial JA, Seeburg PH, Guenzi D, Goodman HM, Baxter JD (1977a) Regulation of growth hormone gene expression: synergistic effects of thyroid and glucocorticoid hormones. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 74:4293–4295
Martial JA, Baxter JD, Goodman HM, Seeburg PH (1977b) Regulation of growth hormone messenger RNA by thyroid and glucocorticoid hormones. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 74:1816–1820
Nyborg JK, Nguyen AP, Spindler SR (1985) Cyclic regulation of growth hormone gene transcription in vivo and in vitro. Endocrinology 116:2361–2365
Parks JS, Herd JE, Wurzel JM, Martial JA(1982) Structural analysis of rodent growth hormone genes: application to genetic forms of hypotituitarism. Endocrinology 110:1672–1675
Phillips JA III, Beamer WG, Bartke A (1982) Analysis of growth hormone genes in mice with genetic defects of growth hormone expression. J Endocrinol 92:405–407
Roti E, Christianson D, Harris ARC, Braverman LE, Vagenakis AG (1978) “Short” loop feedback regulation of hypothalamic and brain thyrotropin-releasing hormone content in the rat and dwarf mouse. Endocrinology 103:1662–1667
Roux M, Bartke A, Dumont F, Dubois MP (1982) Immunohistological study of the anterior pituitary gland-pars distalis and pars intermedia-in dwarf mice. Cell Tissue Res 223:415–420
Sinha YN, Salocks CB, Vanderlaan WP (1975) Pituitary and serum concentrations of prolactin and GH in Snell dwarf mice. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 150:207–210
Slabaugh MB, Lieberman ME, Rutledge JJ, Gorski J (1981) Growth hormone and prolactin synthesis in normal and homozygous Snell and Ames dwarf mice. Endocrinology 109:1040–1046
Smith PE, MacDowell EC (1930) An hereditary anterior-pituitary deficiency in the mouse. Anat Rec 46:249–257
Spindler SR, Mellon SH, Baxter JD (1982) Growth hormone gene transcription is regulated by thyroid and glucocorticoid hormones in cultured rat pituitary tumor cells. J Biol Chem 257:11627
Vila-Porcile E, Olivier L (1984) The problem of the folliculo-stellate cells in the pituitary gland. In: Motta PM (ed) Ultrastructure of endocrine cells and tissues. Martinus Nijhoff, Boston, pp 64–76
Wallis M, Dew JA (1973) The bioassay of growth hormone in Snell's dwarf mice: effects of thyroxine and prolactin on the dose-response curve. J Endocrinol 56:235–243
Wilson DB (1986) Immunocytochemical analysis of somatotrophs and mammotrophs in the pars distalis of postnatal dwarf dw mutant mice. Cell Tissue Res 243:561–565
Wilson DB, Wyatt DP (1986a) Ultrastructural immuno-cytochemistry of somatotrophs and mammotrophs in embryos of the dwarf mutant mouse. Anat Rec 215:282–287
Wilson DB, Wyatt DP (1986b) Immunocytochemistry of TSH cells during development of the dwarf mutant mouse. Anat Embryol (Berl) 174:277–282
Yashiro T, Arai M, Miyashita E, Yamashita K, Suzuki T (1988) Fine-structural and immunohistochemical study of anterior pituitary cells of Snell dwarf mice. Cell Tissue Res 251:249–255
Yoshimura F, Soji T, Sato S, Yokoyama M (1977) Development and differentiation of rat pituitary follicular cells under normal and some experimental conditions with special reference to an interpretation of renewal cell system. Endocrinol Jpn 24:435–449
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wilson, D.B., Wyatt, D.P. Immunocytochemical effects of thyroxine stimulation on the adenohypophysis of dwarf (dw) mutant mice. Cell Tissue Res 274, 579–585 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00314556
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00314556