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Identification of adenohypophysiotropic neurohormone producing neurosecretory cells in Rana temporaria

II. Identification, in the median eminence, of the terminal arborizations of axons of the tubero-hypophysial neurosecretory system

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Summary

By means of electron microscopy, in the median eminence of Rana temporaria, the terminal arborizations of axons of six different types of neurosecretory cells, located in the pars ventralis of the tuber cinereum, were identified. In addition, phenomena connected with the release of neurosecretory material from the axon terminals of these neurosecretory cells into the blood capillaries of the median eminence are described.

Preliminary results suggested the existence, in the median eminence, of additional different neurosecretory axon types which could also belong to corresponding neurosecretory cell types probably located in the apical part of the pars ventralis of the tuber cinereum. Moreover, in the external region of the normal median eminence, separate monoaminergic nerve fibres were tentatively identified. Arguments are adduced which plead (1) against the assumption that the ependyma or the pituicytes of the median eminence could produce adenohypophysiotropic hormones; (2) against the inference that the ependymal cells of the median eminence might be involved in the transport of adenohypophysiotropic hormones from the cerebrospinal fluid into the blood capillaries of the median eminence.

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Dierickx, K., Vandenberghe, M.P. & Goossens, N. Identification of adenohypophysiotropic neurohormone producing neurosecretory cells in Rana temporaria . Z.Zellforsch 142, 479–513 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00306711

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