title: Morphometric analysis of compartments concerned with secretion of parathyroid hormone in male and female rats.
abstract: Parathyroid cells responded to estradiol application in rats by increment in surface area of the compartments concerned with parathyroid hormone secretion, i.e. the rough endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi complex and secretory granules. We thus compared the morphology of parathyroids of male rats with those of females of the same age and same weight, respectively. Morphometric analysis revealed that (i) the mean cell volume was significantly larger and, consequently, the number of parathyroid cells lower expressed per 1 mm3 tissue and (ii) the surface area of the Golgi complex was larger expressed per mean parathyroid cell volume and per 1 mm3 tissue in female rats than in males. Diversity in cell volume seems to depend on age rather than on sex, whereas diversity in the Golgi complex is considered to be sex related. The physiological implications remain to be clarified.
authors.affiliation: Veterinär-Anatomisches Institut, Universität Zürich, Schweiz.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Keller
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Schraner
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wild
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D003594:Cytoplasmic Granules / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004721:Endoplasmic Reticulum / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005260:Female; D006056:Golgi Apparatus / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008297:Male; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D010280:Parathyroid Glands / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010281:Parathyroid Hormone / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012727:Sex Characteristics
chemical_list: D010281:Parathyroid Hormone