✓ Since the discovery of melatonin approximately 25 years ago, there has been intense study regarding the details of the structure and function of the pineal gland. This work is reviewed, with particular emphasis on those aspects of importance to human physiology and disease.

The pineal gland: anatomy, physiology, and clinical significance

A quantitative magnetic resonance histology atlas of postnatal rat brain development with regional estimates of growth and variability

Immunoperoxidase methods for the demonstration of three glial antigens, vimentin, glial fibrillary acidic protein, and S-100 protein, were applied to routine-fixed paraffin sections of rat pineal gland. A pre-embedding electron microscope immunoperoxidase method was also used to study the ultrastructural localization of S-100 protein in pineal cells. Light and electron microscopic results showed the presence of these antigenic glial markers in the second pineal cell type. The term glial cell is proposed for the second of parenchymatous cell in rat pineal gland.

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Presence of glial cells in the rat pineal gland: A light and electron microscopic immunohistochemical study

Pineal melatonin synthesis is decreased in type 2 diabetic Goto-Kakizaki rats.

The INHAND (International Harmonization of Nomenclature and Diagnostic Criteria for Lesions in Rats and Mice) Project (www.toxpath.org/inhand.asp) is a joint initiative among the Societies of Toxicological Pathology from Europe (ESTP), Great Britain (BSTP), Japan (JSTP) and North America (STP) to develop an internationally accepted nomenclature for proliferative and nonproliferative lesions in laboratory animals. The purpose of this publication is to provide a standardized nomenclature for classifying microscopic lesions observed in the endocrine organs (pituitary gland, pineal gland, thyroid gland, parathyroid glands, adrenal glands and pancreatic islets) of laboratory rats and mice, with color photomicrographs illustrating examples of the lesions. The standardized nomenclature presented in this document is also available electronically on the internet (http://www.goreni.org/). Sources of material included histopathology databases from government, academia, and industrial laboratories throughout the world. Content includes spontaneous and aging lesions as well as lesions induced by exposure to test materials. A widely accepted and utilized international harmonization of nomenclature for endocrine lesions in laboratory animals will decrease confusion among regulatory and scientific research organizations in different countries and provide a common language to increase and enrich international exchanges of information among toxicologists and pathologists.

Nonproliferative and Proliferative Lesions of the Rat and Mouse Endocrine System.

The postnatal development and morphology of the adult albino rat pineal gland was studied from one day up to ten months of age. During postnatal life there was a marked increase in gland and pinealocyte volume, more intense during the first 45 days. After ten days, the differences in nuclear morphology of parenchymal cells showed two different types of pinealocyte. The characteristic adult arrangement of pinealocytes in cords and pseudo-rosettes was observed after 15-20 days. After 75 days there was a progressive increase in the number of connective tissue fibres.

J Calvo

Papers

Postnatal evolution of the rat pineal gland: light microscopy.