Quantitative Cytological Studies of the Anterior Lobe of the Hypophysis of Fetuses and Children, Correlated With Sexual and Skeletal Development1

The increasing interest in the hypophysis cerebri has resulted in a demand gor a more accurate knowledge of the cytology of this gland during fetal life and infancy. In the White House Conference Report on the Growth and Development of the Child (1) Hoskins states in this connection “that many more autopsy studies, with special attention to cytological technique are needed.” In making quantitative cytological studies on normal adult male and female pituitaries, Rasmussen (2, 3) noted a significant difference between the sexes, and concluded that “the next step would be to see at what age period this sex difference arises.” The present study was undertaken with this purpose in mind. In addition to establishing a norm, an attempt has been made to correlate the relative percentages of the three cell types with sex, body length, and body weight. There are isolated references in the literature to the fetal and infant pituitary, but to our knowledge no quantitative study of this problem has ever been made. Cooper (4) has reviewed the literature and made a detailed study of the pituitaries of the fetus and child. According to her, the first cells to appear are the undifferentiated ones, or chromophobes. By the third fetal month the granular cells appear.