A Technique for Quickly Removing the Pituitary and Adrenal Glands of Dead Chickens

THE pituitary and adrenal glands have been successfully removed from several different species of live birds (hypophysectomy: Mitchell, 1929; Hill and Parkes, 1934; Schooley, 1939; Nalbandov and Card, 1943; and Rothchild, 1948; adrenalectomy: Parkins, 1931; Parkes and Selye, 1936; Herrick and Torstveit, 1938; Miller and Riddle, 1943; and Hewitt, 1947). Even though these glands are more difficult to remove from live than dead birds, the latter offer difficulties not encountered with the former. For example, in studies considering the weight and histology of either the pituitary or adrenals, a large number of whole, undamaged glands must be obtained with as little loss of time as possible. Phillips (1942) described a technique for quickly removing the portion of bony tissue containing the sella turcica in which the pituitary is located. In young birds, however, the pituitary quite frequently will not remain in the sella turcica when this portion is removed. The …