Proliferation and differentiation of rat anterior pituitary cells.

Studies on the proliferation and differentiation of the cells in the rat anterior pituitary were reviewed. The mitotic rate of anterior pituitary is low in the control adult animal, but it increased by stimulation, such as by ablation of the target organ. A high mitotic rate was also reported during ontogenesis of the pituitary. Concomitant with this augmented mitosis, the number of those cells that are double-labeled with the marker of proliferation and the antibody to pituitary hormones increased as well. The percentage of these double-labeled cells in all the proliferating cells is less than 10%, suggesting that about 1/10 of the proliferating cells are involved in producing pituitary cells. This percentage for GH cells is 30-40% at most, suggesting very active production of them. The percentage of the double-labeled cell in all the hormone-producing cells is within 10% in all cell-types of the pituitary, including GH cells. When the proliferation is detected by a more sensitive method, this percentage increased to 20-40%, suggesting that the self-mitosis of the pituitary cells contributes considerably to their proliferation at a certain period during their ontogenesis.