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The problem of the folliculo-stellate cells in the pituitary gland

  • Chapter
Ultrastructure of Endocrine Cells and Tissues

Part of the book series: Electron Microscopy in Biology and Medicine ((EMBM,volume 1))

Abstract

In 1953, in one of the first papers dealing with the ultrastructure of the rat anterior pituitary, Rinehart and Farquhar (1) noticed the presence of peculiar stellate cells. In a second report (2), they described ‘certain agranular stellate cells with processes extending between the parenchymal cells’ and they concluded: ‘it may be that they represent an additional structural and functional unit’. Two years later, Farquhar (3) introduced the notion of ‘follicular cell’ in a now famous abstract from Anatomical Record, as ‘a sixth cell type’ located ‘throughout the anterior lobe in groups around follicles or ductules which contain colloid of low density’. Following this short paper, many electron microscopy works have been published, describing either ‘stellate’ cells, or ‘follicular’ cells (i.e. cells lining a follicular cavity) in the pituitary of various species.

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  1. Laboratoire d’Histologie et d’Embryologie, Faculté de Médecine Pitié-Salpêtrière, 105 Boulevard de l’Hôpital, 75634, Paris Cedex 13, France

    Evelyne Vila-Porcile & Léon Olivier

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  1. Evelyne Vila-Porcile
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  2. Léon Olivier
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  1. Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rome, Italy

    P. M. Motta M.D., Ph.D.

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© 1984 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Boston, The Hague, Dordrecht, Lancaster

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Vila-Porcile, E., Olivier, L. (1984). The problem of the folliculo-stellate cells in the pituitary gland. In: Motta, P.M. (eds) Ultrastructure of Endocrine Cells and Tissues. Electron Microscopy in Biology and Medicine, vol 1. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3861-1_6

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