The pituitary of the African lungfish Protopterus sp

Organization of the catecholaminergic systems in the brain of lungfishes, the closest living relatives of terrestrial vertebrates

“…A group of TH‐ir cells was located at midline, above the optic chiasm (Figure e). Many fibers arising from the abundant TH‐ir cells in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (and probably also from the preoptic area) were seen to course caudally through the tuberal hypothalamus and reach the intermediate lobe of the hypophysis (after Dawson, ; Kerr & van Oordt, ; Vallarino et al, ; Figures h‐l, j,k, l,o, a, 7a,b). Noteworthy, in double stained section for TH and DA a complete colocalization of both markers was observed in the rostral part of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (Figure a–c; comparable to level shown in Figure d), whereas slightly more caudally single labeled cells for TH and DA were observed in the caudal subdivision of the nucleus (Figure d).…”

Endocrinology of the Vertebrates

“…A final general characteristic is that the cells of the adenohypophysis are arranged in zones so that readily identifiable regions responsible for the production of ACTH or prolactin, for example, pars intermedia. A few studies have allocated specific hormones to identified cells (460,881,945).…”

Gonadotrops in agnatha, fishes and amphibia

“…In the absence of experim ental evidence, the functional significance of these cells is ten ta tiv e . K err and Van Oordt [1966] have a ttrib u te d FH S-like function to ty p e II cyanophils and LH-like function to ty p e III cyanophils. T ype I I I cyanophils show the closest resem blance to the am phibian type I I I cell type (ICSH) in shape and staining reaction | P asteels, 1960: Van Oordt, 1961;Van Oordt and Lofts, 1963;Van Dongen e ta /., 1966].…”

“…The Protopterus p itu ita ry differs from th a t of fish, and a p proaches the am phibian type in form [W ingstrand, 19561. The pars distalis contains live cell tvpes, i.e., three types of cyanophils and tw o ty p es of acidophils [ K err and Van Oordt, 1966]. In the absence of experim ental evidence, the functional significance of these cells is ten ta tiv e .…”