Influence of some endocrine glands, hormones and blinding on the histology and porphyrins of the Harderian glands of golden hamsters

Abstract

Harderian glands of female or castrated male hamsters contained scattered luminal pigment deposits and a single cell type. TWO cell types were found in the glands from intact males. Glands from both male and female animals showed abundant cytoplasmic lipids. Pigment formation appeared to be endogenous and in some cases occurred by extrusion of cells from alveolar walls and their subsequent transformation. Holocrine secretion was demonstrable. Porphyrin concentrations in the glands from females were increased three weeks after bilateral blinding and decreased following hypophysectomy, ablation of one Harderian gland, unilateral blinding, treatment with thiourea or exposure to an environmental temperature of 8°C. Ovariectomy or ovariectomy plus treatment with 17-a-estradiol for three weeks had no effect on the Harderian glands nor did pinealectomy. Porphyrin concentrations in the glands from male hamsters were extremely low. Castration increased these concentrations over 100-fold and modified the morphology toward that of the female while testosterone proprionate treatment prevented these changes. Administration of H3-thymidine and subsequent radioautography revealed a peak in mitotic activity between 9: 30 PM and 12: 30 AM at the end of the light period or the beginning of the dark period. Longterm blinded or blinded, castrated males had Harderian glands which were microscopically "lacelike" due to intense steatogenesis.

The influence of sex steroid hormones on ferrochelatase gene expression in Harderian gland of hamster (Mesocricetus auratus)

“…Both male gland histology and activity are known to be under hormonal control (Hoffman 1971, Payne 1979. Notably, male sex steroids sustain repressive effects on ALA-S1 activity and porphyrin levels (Domínguez et al 1994) but do not change the abundance of type II cells (McMasters & Hoffman 1984) or the output of a haemcontaining protein, which was considered to be involved in regulation of porphyrin synthesis (Vilchis et al 1996).…”

“…In fact, the female hamster has considerably more porphyrins than the male (Spike et al 1985(Spike et al , 1986. These sexual differences may be easily reversed by changes in sex hormones; castration of adult males increases the intraglandular content of these pigments, and administration of androgens to adult females decreases their intraglandular content (Hoffman 1971, McMasters & Hoffman 1984. In addition, the porphyrinogenic activity of the gland fluctuates throughout the oestrous cycle, pregnancy and lactation, suggesting that there is a link between HG activity and reproductive function , Payne et al 1979.…”

“…Its function remains unclear, although it has been linked to a retino-pineal-gonadal system (Wetterberg et al 1970) and may serve as a potential source of pheromones (Payne 1994) and as a secondary steroidogenic organ (Vilchis et al 2002). Characteristically in Syrian hamster, the HG produces and accumulates large amounts of porphyrins, which can be microscopically visualized as solid intraluminal accretions (Christensen & Dam 1953, Hoffman 1971. The HG appears to express the whole enzymatic complex required for porphyrin synthesis from glycine and succinyl-CoA (Tomio & Grinstein 1968).…”

Localization of Porphyrin in Mouse Harderian Glands.

“…It is well known that the Harderian gland in some species of rodents (e.g., rat mouse, golden hamster) contains a large amount of porphyrins (mainly protoporphyrin) which under ultraviolet (UV) light emit a bright red fluorescence (LOEWENTHAL, 1892;DERRIEN and TURCHINI, 1924;GRAFFLIN, 1941;TOWBIN et at., 1945;BITTNER and WATSON, 1946;ROHONYI and LELENYI, 1962;KENNEDY, 1970;HOFFMAN, 1971;STRUM and SHEAR, 1982a, b;JOHNSTON et al, 1985). The wide glandular lumina of the glands are often occupied by pigmented masses which show red fluorescence.…”

Effect of Jelly Fish Crude Venom on Liver, Thyroid and Harderian Glands of Female Mice

“…The underlying connective tissue along the dorsal border of the socket was cut to expose the posterior of the eye and the underlying Harderian glands. With blunt dissection, the posterior ends of the Harderian glands were freed from their intimate association with the adjacent orbital muscles and connective tissue and teased or rolled to the anteroventral border of the orbit where they were cut and removed (Hoffman, 1971). All animals and their Harderian glands were weighed.…”