Gross and Histological Study on the Pars distalis of Pituitary gland of Adult Male Sprague Dawley Rat

Abstract

The present study was conducted on the pituitary gland collected from adult male Sprague Dawley rats of eight and eleven weeks of age. The pituitary gland was located in the midline at the base of the brain in the sella turcica. The shape of the gland was flat. Dorsally, it was connected to the hypothalamus by a stalk. The duramater partition between the base of the brain and the pituitary gland was not present. The diaphragm sellae as such was not visible like in other higher vertebrates. The pars nervosa was connected to the posterior extremity of the two parts of pars distalis. The pars distalis was divided by a cleft into almost two equal halves. The cleft was lined by a single layer of cuboidal to columnar cells on either side of pars distalis throughout its length. The parenchyma of pars distalis was composed of spherical to polyhedral shaped cells or pituicytes, supporting cells and nerve fibers. The pituicytes were arranged in irregular anastomosing cords that were intervened by capillaries with no colloid mass. They were differentiated into chromophobes and chromophils.