SUBMICROSCOPIC CYTOPLASMIC GRANULES IN THE ANTERIOR LOBE CELLS OF THE RAT HYPOPHYSIS AS REVEALED BY ELECTRON MICROSCOPY

Abstract

Anterior pituitary cytology was studied with the electron microscope and the following procedures used,viz., the "pre-shadow replica-adhesion" method, direct examination of the cell smear or extended cell sheets, and microincineration and replica-incineration. The cytoplasm of the cells was found to consist predominantly of distinctly outlined spherical bodies 30-300 mu in diam. These "cytospheres" contain smaller spherical granules and are embedded in a particulate sub-microscopic ground substance. The specific granules appear as large spherical bodies bounded by a membrane with fine adhering granules. Small spherical bodies resembling the cytospheres were found in large numbers attached to the corrugated nuclear membrane. No fundamental differences in the submicroscopic structure of the eosinophile, basophile and chromophobe cells could be observed.[long dash].