Vol 43, No 2 (2005)
Original paper
Published online: 2011-08-22
Characterization of human pituitary adenomas in cell cultures by light and electron microscopic morphology and immunolabeling
Folia Histochem Cytobiol 2005;43(2):81-90.
Abstract
The morphology and hormone production of pituitary adenoma cell cultures were compared in order to highlight
their characteristic in vitro features. Cell suspensions were prepared from 494 surgical specimens. The 319 viable monolayer
cultures were analyzed in detail by light microscopy and immunocytochemistry within two weeks of cultivation. Some cultures
were further characterized by scanning, transmission and immunogold electron microscopy. The viability and detailed in vitro
morphology of adenoma cells were found to be characteristic for the various types of pituitary tumors. The sparsely granulated
growth hormone, the corticotroph and the acidophil stem cell adenomas provided the highest ratio of viable cultures.
Occasionally, prolonged maintenance of cells resulted in long-term cultures. Furthermore, a variety of particular distributions
of different hormone-containing granules were found in several cases. Both light microscopic and ultrastructural analyses
proved that the primary cultures of adenoma cells retain their physiological features during in vitro cultivations. Our in vitro
findings correlated with the routine histopathological examination. These results prove that monolayer cultures of pituitary
adenoma cells can contribute to the correct diagnosis and are valid model systems for various oncological and neuroendocrinological
studies.
Keywords: Pituitary adenomaHormoneImmunolabelingElectron microscopyCell culture
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