Immunohistochemical characteristics of the hypophysis in normal conditions and chronic stress.
Quantitative immunohistochemical methods were used to assess activation of the hypothalamo-hypophyseal-adrenocortical system at the level of its central component - the adenohypophysis - in the growing body during chronic exposure to psychoemotional stressors of different strengths. Sprague-Dawley rats aged 30 days were subjected to "mild" or "severe" immobilization stress for 5 h per day for seven days. Animals were decapitated at the end of the last stress session and the endocrine glands (hypophysis, adrenals) were harvested, weighed, and embedded in paraffin; sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and also immunohistochemically using monoclonal antibodies to adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) following by automated image analysis. These studies showed that stress-associated hyperplasia of corticotropocytes in rats of pubertal age was due more to the differentiation of existing immature precursor cells than to cell proliferation.
Kapitonova
M Yu
MY
Medical Faculty, MARA University of Technology, Shah Alam, Malaysia.
Kuznetsov
S L
SL
Khlebnikov
V V
VV
Zagrebin
V L
VL
Morozova
Z Ch
ZCh
Degtyar
Yu V
YV
D000311:Adrenal Glands / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000378:metabolism*; D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D001331:Automation; D001835:Body Weight; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002908:Chronic Disease; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009929:Organ Size; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012149:Restraint, Physical; D013234:Stem Cells; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone