The Fine Structure of the Human Pituitary Chromophobe Adenoma with Special Reference to the Classification of this Tumor

Electron Microscopy of Human Pituitary Adenomas. Correlation of the Secretory Granules with the Experimentally and Clinically Evaluated Hormone Synthesis Function of the Adenoma Tissue

“…The Golgi apparatus was frequently encountered, contain ing some small granules within it. The ultra structure of the adenomas closely resembled the prolactin cell adenomas described by Horvath and Kovac,6) some of chromophobe adenomas by Kuromatsu,8) and those observed by Racadot et al") In the remaining case (Case MA), the adenoma tissue was composed of tumor cells containing sparsely distributed small secretory granules, similar to those observed in the 8 cases in Group 1. The abilities to synthesize and release HGH and prolactin were found to be low, though galactorrhea-amenorrhea syndrome was clini cally manifested.…”

Ultrastructural Classification of Pituitary Adenomas

“…Previous authors (Fukumitsu, 1967;Kuromatsu, 1968;Foncin, 1971;Tomiyasu et as., 1973) dealing with the ultrastructure of "nonsecreting" chromophobe adenomas disclosed and documented some of the striking fine structural features of PAME without apparently linking them with prolactin cells.…”

“…The fine structural features are well known and well documented under the term of chromophobe adenomas (Schelin, 1962;Fukumitsu, 1967;Kuromatsu, 1968;Zambrano et al, 1968, Schechter, 1973aTomiyasu et al, 1973; Van Noorden, 1974), usually along with well recognizable examples of PAME, the other frequently occurring "chromophobe" adenoma. Notwithstanding their distinguishable features, undifferentiated cell adenomas and sparsely granulated prolactin cell tumors have not previously been clearly separated.…”

“…Thus, in a large number of pituitary tumors the cell type from which they arise cannot be identified. By electron microscopy certain fine structural differences have been detected among various chromophobe adenomas by several investigators (Schelin, 1962;Kuromatsu, 1968;Zambrano et al, 1968;Schechter, 1973a;Tomiyasu et al, 1973;Lewis and Van Noorden, 1974). These studies, however, failed to result in a satisfactory classification of chromophobe tumors by light microscopy.…”

Functional Classification of Cell Types of the Anterior Pituitary Gland Accomplished by Electron Microscopy

“…and thyrotrophs was also carried out using this method of identification (FARQUHAR and RINEHART 1954 a, b). The producer cell of ACTH was also identified by means of electron microscopy of the altered structure in the anterior pituitary of the adrenalectomlzed rat (SIPERSTEIN andALLISON 1965, KUROSUMI and Some reports on the fine structure of the human pituitary tumors were published (GUSEK 1962, SCHELIN 1962, FUKUMITSU 1964, KUROMATSU 1968, but the cell identification is quite difficult in such human specimens, unless clinical data on various endocrine activities in the patient body are thoroughly available. The estrogeninduced pituitary tumor of the rat consists chiefly of cells with characteristic structure of the mammotrophs (HYMER et al 1961, SHIMAZAKI et al 1962 The electron microscopy of such a prolactin-producing autograft indicated the ultrastructural characteristics of the mammotrophic cells (LTH-cells) (RENNELS 1962).…”