Skip to main content
Log in

Nucleolar organiser regions in pituitary adenomas

  • Regular Papers
  • Published:
Acta Neuropathologica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Nucleolar organiser regions have been identified by a silver-staining technique (AgNORs) and quantified in paraffin sections of normal foetal and adult pituitary gland and in a series of 35 pituitary adenomas, which included all the main types. In the adult pituitary there were 1.45±0.07 (mean ± SEM) AgNORs per cell and in the foetal gland 2.94±0.37. The overall values for the adenomas were 1.98±0.08. Macroadenomas had significantly higher numbers (2.18±0.09) than microadenomas (1.69±0.11). Of the hormonally active tumours, corticotroph adenomas had the highest value (2.18±0.15), although four out of six were microadenomas.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Anniko M, Tribukait B, Wersall J (1984) DNA ploidy and cell phase in human pituitary tumours. Cancer 53:1708–1713

    Google Scholar 

  2. Crocker J, Nar P (1987) Nucleolar organiser regions in lymphomas. J Pathol 151:111–118

    Google Scholar 

  3. Crocker J, Skilbeck N (1987) Nucleolar organiser-associated proteins in cutaneous melanotic lesions: a quantitative study. J Clin Pathol 40:885–889

    Google Scholar 

  4. Das BC, Rani R, Mitra AB, Luthra UK (1986) The number of silver-staining NORs (rDNA) in lymphocytes of newborns and its relationship to human development. Mech Ageing Dev 36:117–123

    Google Scholar 

  5. Capoa A de, Baldini A, Marlekaj P, Natoli C, Rocchi M, Archidiacono N, Cianfarini S, Spadoni GL, Boscherini B (1985) Hormone-modulated rRNA gene activity is visualised by selective staining of the NOs. Cell Biol Intern Rep 9:791–796

    Google Scholar 

  6. Hall PS, Crocker J, Watts A, Stansfeld AG (1988) A comparison of nucleolar organiser region staining and Ki67 immunostaining in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Histopathology (in press)

  7. Hernandez-Verdun D, Derenzini M, Bouteille M (1982) The morphological relationship in electron microscopy between NOR-silver proteins and intranucleolar chromatin. Chromosoma 85:461–473

    Google Scholar 

  8. Hernandez-Verdun D, Derenzini M, Bouteille M (1984) Relationship between the Ag-NOR proteins and ribosomal chromatin in situ during drug-induced RNA synthesis inhibition. J Ultrastruct Res 88:55–65

    Google Scholar 

  9. Howell WM (1982) Selective staining of nucleolus organizer regions (NORS). In: Busch H, Rothblum L (eds) The cell nucleus, vol XI. Academic Press, New York London, pp 89–142

    Google Scholar 

  10. Howell WM, Black DA (1980) Controlled silver staining of nucleolus organizer regions with a protective colloidal developer: a one-step method. Experientia 36:1014–1015

    Google Scholar 

  11. Kovacs K, Horvath E (1986) Tumours of the pituitary gland. In: Hartmann WH, Sobin LH (eds) Atlas of tumor pathology, Fasc 21, 2nd Ser. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  12. Landolt AM, Shibata T, Kleihues P (1987) Growth rate of human pituitary adenomas. J Neurosurg 67:803–806

    Google Scholar 

  13. Morton CC, Brown JA, Holmes WM, Nance WE, Wolf B (1983) Stain intensity of human nucleolus organizer region reflects incorporation of uridine into mature ribosomal RNA. Exp Cell Res 145:405–413

    Google Scholar 

  14. Olson MOJ, Thompson BA (1983) Distribution of proteins among chromatin components of nucleoli. Biochemistry 22:3187–3193

    Google Scholar 

  15. Ploton D, Bobichon H, Adnet JJ (1982) Ultrastructural localisation of NOR in nucleoli of human breast cancer tissues using a one step Ag-NOR staining method. Biol Cell 43:229–232

    Google Scholar 

  16. Ploton D, Menager M, Jeannesson P, Himber G, Pigeon F, Adnet JJ (1986) Improvement in the staining and visualisation of the argyrophilic proteins of the nucleolar organizer region at the optical level. Histochem J 18:5–14

    Google Scholar 

  17. Selman WR, Laws ER Jr, Scheithauer BW, Carpenter SM (1986) The occurrence of dural invasion in pituitary adenomas. J Neurosurg 64:588–593

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

McNicol, A.M., Colgan, J., McMeekin, W. et al. Nucleolar organiser regions in pituitary adenomas. Acta Neuropathol 77, 547–549 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00687257

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00687257

Key words

Navigation