TISSUE CULTURE STUDIES ON HUMAN PITUITARY TUMOURS: RADIOIMMUNOASSAYABLE ANTERIOR PITUITARY HORMONES IN THE CULTURE MEDIUM

Abstract

A tissue culture study was undertaken to determine if human nonfunctioning pituitary tumors secrete polypeptide anterior pituitary hormones in vitro and to study the spectrum of hormone release by functioning pituitary neoplasms. Fragments from 48 human pituitary tumors (from 2 patients with Cushing''s disease, 1 with Nelson''s syndrome, 5 with amenorrhea-galactorrhea, 10 with acromegaly and 30 with nonfunctioning pituitary tumors) and 3 normal human anterior pituitary glands (controls) were placed in tissue culture immediately after surgery. The in vitro release of human growth hormone (HGH), prolactin (Prl), thyrotropin (TSH), ACTH luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) were measured by radioimmunoassays at the end of 1 wk in culture. Clinical and pathological data were compared to hormone release patterns.