Pineal--adrenal relationship in a lizard Calotes versicolor

Effect of pinealectomy on the histology of the adrenocortical homologue and plasma cortisol level in the Indian catfish, Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch)

In Heteropneustes fossilis, the adrenocortical cells were highly active, hypertrophied, and degranulated after 15 and 30 days of pinealectomy in spawning/postspawning phase. Besides, several cells had undergone pycnotic changes in the 30-day group. The plasma cortisol level increased significantly (P less than 0.05) in the pinealectomized fish in comparison to those of the sham pinealectomized and unoperated control fish. The increase was higher in the 15-day group than in the 30-day-pinealectomized group. The results suggest that the pineal organ exerts an inhibitory influence on the activity of the adrenal in the catfish.

Pituitary-adrenal axis in pinealoma

Autopsy series of 19 patients with pineal and anterior third ventricle (suprasellar) tumors were analyzed with regard to shift in pituitary-adrenal axis. Germinomas formed the most common subgroup in this series (79%). Metastatic tumor growth in the pituitary gland caused adrenal atrophy in 4 cases. Some patients with pineal neoplasms had larger adrenals in weight compared with age- and sex-matched controls of Japanese. In three patients with sexual precocity, adrenal weight was larger. It is concluded that clinical importance exists in anterior pituitary insufficiency with adrenal atrophy, but hyperfunction of the hypophyseoadrenal system might occur during the course of the disease.