Resumption of Gonadotrophic Function in Pituitary Grafts following Re-transplantation from Kidney to Median Eminence

Abstract

IT has been repeatedly demonstrated that the pars distalis of the hypophysis suffers great functional and cytological losses whenever it is transplanted to a site remote from normal. Thus, FSH and LH secretion ceases abruptly. Everett^1,2 has demonstrated in rats that luteotrophin is the only gonadotrophin secreted during 2–3 months after auto-transplantation to the kidney. As early as 8 days following transplantation, histological examination of the grafts indicated complete lack of basophils and the presence of only small ‘acidophils’ and chromophobes. One may question whether these functional and cytological changes result from operative trauma and other adverse effects of transplantation, on one hand, or from loss of hypothalamic control, on the other hand.