The effects of advancing age on the structure of the anterior hypophyses and ovaries of female rats

Abstract

I?VO FIGURESRecent histological observations on the anterior pituitary glands of man (Rasmussen, '36) and of rats (Wolfe, Bryan, and Wright, '38) have indicated that old age is associated with a decrease in the percentages of eosinophiles and an increase in the percentages of chromophobes. The observations on rats were concerned chiefly with a description of the adenomatous changes which occurred in the anterior lobes of the old rats, but the other structural manifestations of advancing age, particularly their progressive nature, were not considered in detail. In view of the recent interest which has been shown in the general problem of ageing, it was considered desirable to make a more detailed analysis of the progressive effects of advancing age on the structure of anterior hypophyses of rats by using a wide range of age groups which were closely spaced. Rats from the Vanderbilt strain were used for these studies, and a description of this strain has already been published (Wolfe, Bryan and Wright, '38). To eliminate the possible effects of pregnancy on the structure of the anterior hypophysis, only virgin rats were used. Since the structurg of the ovary can be considered a reliable index of the functional activity of the anterior lobe, studies were made of the ovaries in all age groups except those of rats 1 month old.

Light and Electron Microscopy of the Ovarian Interstitial Tissue in the Senile Rat: Normal Aspect and Response to HCG of ‘Deficiency Cells’ and ‘Epithelial Cords’

“…The microscopic structure of the ovaries of senile rodents has been known for a long time in the rat [Romeis, 1931;Wolfe. 1943;Engle, 1946] and in the mouse [Loeb.…”

Colloid in the pituitary pars distalis of viscacha (Lagostomus maximus maximus): Ultrastructure and occurrence in relation to season, sex, and growth

“…Similar observations were made by other authors in the adenohypophysis of rabbits (Shionati, 1980), avians (Harrison et al, 1982a,b) and bats (Nunez and Gershon, 1982) suggesting that this process may be related to secretory activity. Wolfe (1943) and Ciocca and González (1978) suggested that the colloid is a bioproduct of cellular degeneration.…”

“…Similar changes in pituitary colloid content have been reported previously in numerous mammals. In rats (Wolfe, 1943), cattle (Bassett, 1951) and bat (Anthony and Gustafson, 1984), colloid is a conspicuous component of adult pituitary glands. Colloidal accumulations are rare and reduced in size in immature hamsters, guinea pigs, hedgehogs, and porcine, but these structures are larger and more numerous in older animals (Wolfe and Eaton, 1940;Shanklin, 1948;Hanke and Charipper, 1948;Spagnoli and Charipper, 1955;Curé et al, 1971;Kameda, 1990Kameda, , 1991Ogawa et al, 1996Ogawa et al, , 1997.…”

Age-Dependent Changes in the Pituitary-- Gonadal Relationship

“…This is attested by the fact that ovaries of the aged rat contained vesicular and cystic follicles of varying sizes and numerous corpora lutea. Wolfe (1943), in his extensive study, found a decrease both in follicular and luteal counts in the ovaries of the aged animals.…”