Zoological Studies

LH-lmmunoreactivity and Ultrastructural Changes in the Pituitary Gland of Post-castrated Rats: Quantitative and Morphologic Studies

Shang-Ming Yu, Sung-Ling Yu, Mei-Miao Chiu and Kwan-Hwa Lin (1997) LH-lmmunoreactivity and ul­ trastructural changes in the pituitary gland of post-castrated rats: quantitative and morphologic studies. Zoological Studies 36(3): 230-239. At 1-d postcastration of 2-mo-old rats, LH-immunoreactive (IR) cells were not hypertrophied in the female pituitary gland but a few LH-IR cells were hypertrophied in that of males  At 2-d postcastration, a few LH-IR cells were hypertrophied in the female pituitary gland and contained small cytoplasmic vacuoles in males. At 4-d postcastration, a few hypertrophied LH-IR cells contained a few small cytoplasmic vacuoles in the female pituitary gland and contained coalesced vacuoles in males. At 7-d post­ castration, numerous hypertrophied LH-IR cells contained a few small cytoplasmic vacuoles in the female pituitary gland and contained coalesced vacuoles in males. At 14-d postcastration, a large number of hyper­ trophied LH-IR cells contained numerous cytoplasmic vacuoles in the female pituitary gland and had become arranged in irregular, interconnecting cords in males. At the electron microscopic level, cisternae of the rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) were slightly dilated in non-hypertrophied gonadotrophs of the female pituitary gland but moderately dilated in hypertrophied gonadotrophs of males at 1-d postcastration. At 2-d postcastration, cisternae of the RER were slightly dilated in hypertrophied gonadotrophs of the female pituitary gland and moderately dilated in those of males. At 4-d postcastration, cisternae of the RER were moderately dilated in hypertrophied gonadotrophs of the female pituitary gland and had coalesced in those of males  At 7-d postcastration, cisternae of the RER remained moderately dilated in hypertrophied gonadotrophs of the female pituitary gland and had coalesced and markedly dilated in those of males. At 14-d postcastration, cisternae of the RER were similar to those in hypertrophied gonadotrophs of female and male pituitary glands at 7-d postcastration. Most of the secretory granules were small in size but a few large ones were also present in the cytoplasm of female and male hypertrophied gonadotrophs.