Immunohistochemistry of the golden hamster pituitary during chronic administration of diethylstilbestrol: a quantitative analysis using confocal laser scanning microscopy

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine by immunohistochemistry the morphologic changes affecting pituitary cell populations in male Syrian hamsters undergoing chronic exposure (3 days to 9 months) to diethylstilbestrol (DES). Cell proliferation in the hypophysis was monitored by the immunohistochemical demonstration of S-phase cells after pulse labeling with 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine. Cell proliferation analysis was combined with the identification of different cell populations by immunostaining with antisera raised against hypophyseal hormones. Sections processed for double-label immunofluorescence were examined by confocal microscopy. In the adenohypophysis, the relative surface occupied by gonadotrophs and thyrotrophs decreased rapidly during the first months of treatment while corticotroph and somatotroph populations remained unaffected. Accordingly, the incidence of S-phase cells in these four cell populations was lower than or similar to control values. In contrast, lactotrophs increased gradually during the first month of exposure to DES to reach a maximum value at 2-4 months. At the beginning, this increase was primarily due to hyperplasia but later on it also involved cellular hypertrophy. Somatomammotrophs did not seem to be involved in this model. In the pars intermedia, the labeling index of melanotrophs rose rapidly to reach values 5-6 times higher than controls. After 4 months, neoplasms originating from the pars intermedia were seen invading both the neuro-and the adenohypophysis. At the end of treatment, the pituitary was markedly enlarged resulting from the development of an adenoma of the pars intermedia.

Dynamics of hyaluronan, CD44, and inflammatory cells in the rat kidney after ischemia/reperfusion injury

“…The coexpression of markers (CD44 and ED-1) was analyzed by a double-label immunofluorescence method. Since all antibodies were raised in mouse, we applied a technique described in a previous publication (19) to avoid cross-reactivity between the secondary antibodies. This technique, originally developed by Lan et al (20), was based on the use of microwave heating to block secondary antibodies cross-reactivity between sequential steps of immunostaining.…”

In focus in HCB

“…The synthetic nonsteroidal estrogen diethylstilbestrol (DES) is known to induce proliferation of prolactin (PRL) cells in the anterior pituitary gland of rodents which may result in the formation of prolactinomas (Cauwenberge et al 2001;Matsubara et al 2001). In addition, DES was found to increase the number of PRL cells via transdifferentiation of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) cells (Shukuwa et al 2006).…”

Histone deacetylase inhibitors suppress transdifferentiation of gonadotrophs to prolactin cells and proliferation of prolactin cells induced by diethylstilbestrol in male mouse pituitary

“…Diethylstilbestrol (DES), a synthetic nonsteroidal estrogen, induces reproductive tract anomalies, infertility and malignancy in human (McLachlan, Newbold and Bullock 1980;Alwis et al 2011;Huo et al 2017). In the pituitary gland of rodents, DES is known to increase the number of prolactin (PRL) cells and induce the development of prolactinoma (Cauwenberge et al 2001;Matsubara, Harigaya and Nogami 2001;Ramadhani et al 2015). We found previously that DES does not only induce proliferation of PRL cells, but also promotes transdifferentiation of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) cells into PRL cells through the action of ERα (Shukuwa et al 2006).…”