Pituitary Gland

Dr. Mohamed Smith

Outline
• Introduction
• Regulation of hormones
• Anterior pituitary hormones
• Posterior pituitary hormones
• Hyper- and hypo- activity of pituitary gland
• Pituitary gland or hypophysis is a small endocrine gland with a
diameter of 1 cm and weight of 0.5 to 1 g.

• It is situated in a depression called ‘sella turcica’, present in the

sphenoid bone at the base of skull.

• It is connected with the hypothalamus by the pituitary stalk or

hypophyseal stalk.
• Pituitary gland is divided into two divisions:
Anterior pituitary or adenohypophysis
Posterior pituitary or neurohypophysis.

• Both are situated close to each other, but are entirely different in
their development, structure and function.
Development of pituitary gland

• Anterior pituitary is ectodermal in origin and arises from the

pharyngeal epithelium as an upward growth known as Rathke pouch.

• Posterior pituitary is neuroectodermal in origin and arises from

hypothalamus as a downward diverticulum.
Regulation of secretion
• The relationship between hypothalamus and pituitary gland is called
hypothalamo-hypophyseal relationship.

• Hormones secreted by hypothalamus are transported to anterior

pituitary and posterior pituitary.

• Hormones from hypothalamus are transported to anterior pituitary

through hypothalamo-hypophysial portal blood vessels.

• Hormones from hypothalamus to posterior pituitary are transported by

nerve fibers of hypothalamo-hypophyseal tract
Anterior pituitary or adenohypophysis
• Anterior pituitary is also known as the master gland because it
regulates many other endocrine glands through its hormones.

• Anterior pituitary consists of three parts

Pars distalis
Pars tuberalis
Pars intermedia.
Histology
Chromophobe Cells
• Chromophobe cells do not possess granules and stain poorly.
• These cells form 50% of total cells in anterior pituitary.
• Chromophobe cells are not secretory in nature, but are the precursors
of chromophil cells.

• Chromophil Cells
• Chromophil cells contain large number of granules and are darkly
stained.
Types of chromophil cells

• Are classified by two methods.

1. Classification on the basis of staining property:

Acidophilic cells or alpha cells, which form 35%

Basophilic cells or beta cells, which form 15%.
 2. Classification on the basis of secretory nature:

• Somatotropes, which secrete growth hormone

• Corticotropes, which secrete adrenocorticotropic hormone
• Thyrotropes, which secrete thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH)
• Gonadotropes, which secrete follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and
luteinizing hormone (LH)
• Lactotropes, which secrete prolactin.
• Somatotropes and lactotropes are acidophilic cells, whereas others
are basophilic cells.
Regulation of anterior pituitary secretion
• Hypothalamus controls anterior pituitary by secreting the releasing
and inhibitory hormones called neurohormones.

• These hormones from hypothalamus are transported to the anterior

pituitary through hypothalamo-hypophyseal portal vessels.

• Some special nerve cells present in various parts hypothalamus send

their nerve fibers (axons) to median eminence and tuber cinereum.

• These nerve cells synthesize the hormones and release them into
median emminence
• The hormones are transported by blood via hypothalamo-
hypophyseal portal vessels to anterior pituitary
Releasing and Inhibitory Hormones Secreted
by Hypothalamus
• Growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH): Stimulates the release of
growth hormone
• Growth hormone-inhibitory hormone (GHIH) or somatostatin: Inhibits the
growth hormone release
• Thyrotropic-releasing hormone (TRH): Stimulates the release of thyroid
stimulating hormone
• Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH): Stimulates the release of
adrenocorticotropin
• Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH): Stimulates the release of
gonadotropins, FSH and LH
• Prolactin-inhibitory hormone (PIH): Inhibits prolactin secretion. It is
believed that PIH is dopamine.
Hormones secreted by anterior pituitary

• Growth hormone (GH) or somatotropic hormone(STH)

• Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) or thyrotropic hormone
• Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)
• Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)
• Luteinizing hormone (LH)
• Prolactin.
Posterior pituitary or neurohypophysis
• Posterior pituitary consists of three parts:

-Pars nervosa or infundibular process

- Neural stalk or infundibular stem
-Median eminence.

• Pars tuberalis of anterior pituitary and the neural stalk of posterior

pituitary together form the hypophyseal stalk.
Histology

• Posterior pituitary is made up of neural type of cells:

Pituicytes
• Pituicytes are the fusiform cells derived from glial cells.
• These cells have several processes and brown pigment granules.
• Act as supporting cells and do not secrete any hormone.
Unmyelinated Nerve Fibers
• Unmyelinated nerve fibers come from supraoptic and paraventricular
nuclei of the hypothalamus through the pituitary stalk.
• Hormones of posterior pituitary

• Antidiuretic hormone (ADH) or vasopressin

• Oxytocin.
Disorders of pituitary gland
Hyperactivity of anterior pituitary
• Gigantism
• Acromegaly
• Acromegalic Gigantism
• Cushing Disease
Hypoactivity of anterior pituitary
• Dwarfism
• Acromicria
• Simmond Disease
Hyperactivity of posterior pituitary
• Syndrome of Inappropriate Hypersecretion of Antidiuretic Hormone
(SIADH)
Hypoactivity of posterior pituitary
• Diabetes Insipidus
Thanks