Peliosis in Spontaneous Adenomas of the Rat Pituitary. An Electron Microscopic Study

Abstract

Lakes of blood are frequently observed in spontaneous prolactin cell adenomas of the rat pituitary. The lesions resemble peliosis, a disorder found mainly in the liver but also in the adrenal cortex. In order to reconstruct the events involved in the formation of these blood lakes, 25 spontaneous prolactin cell adenomas and 1 non-prolactin cell adenoma were harvested from adult female Long-Evans and Sprague-Dawley rats and investigated by electron microscopy.