Separation of the Two Different Sizes of Storage Granules with GH or ACTH Activity from the Pellets of Acidophils Isolated from Rat Anterior Pituitaries

• Published in: Endocrinologia Japonica Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 215 - 223
• Main Authors: ISHIKAWA, HIROSHI, OHTSUKA, YUMIKO, SOYAMA, FUMIE, YOSHIMURA, FUJIO
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan The Japan Endocrine Society 01.01.1972
• Subjects: Adrenocorticotropic Hormone - analysis; Animals; Biological Assay; Cell Separation; Centrifugation, Density Gradient; Chromatography, Thin Layer; Cytoplasmic Granules - analysis; Electrophoresis; Growth Hormone - analysis; Male; Microscopy, Electron; Pituitary Gland - analysis; Prolactin - analysis; Rats
• ISSN: 0013-7219; 2185-6370
• DOI: 10.1507/endocrj1954.19.215

It was preliminarily revealed by a histogram made from the electron micrographs of acidophils on the tissue sections of anterior pituitaries in normal rats that the two different sizes of storage granules were distributed in high population in many acidophils. These two granules, small and large in size, were isolated from the pellet of isolated acidophils and separated each other by filtrations through membrane filters with various pore sizes and by discontinuous sucrose density gradient centrifugations. The other histogram made from the electron micrographs of these separated granules coincided with the above histogram. ACTH, GH and prolactin activities were bioassayed on the free granules. GH activity was found only in the large granules with diameter between 300 and 450mμ. ACTH activity was detected only in the small granules with diameter between 100 and 200 mμ, though the content of ACTH contained in the isolated granules represented only a few per cent of the total ACTH content of the homogenate of anterior pituitary. No prolactin activity was found in the both kinds of granules. These findings strongly suggested that the two kinds of granules originated from the acidophils of the rat anterior pituitaries were involved in GH and ACTH storage and the acidophils were responsible for ACTH production. The findings were also discussed related to the mode of intracellular localization of the hormones.