Liu Shaojun
Department of Neurobiology, Beijing Institute of Neurosciences, The Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100850, China.
Brain Res. 2004 May 15;1008(1):61-8. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2003.12.055.
It has been previously shown that the peptidergic nerve fibers are present in the anterior pituitary of monkeys, dogs and rats. In our study, which is reported here, thick nerve fiber bundles, large numbers of peptidergic nerve fibers and their varicosities, which are substance P (SP)-, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)- and galanin (GAL)-immunoreactive (ir), are found in the human pituitary stalk. All these peptidergic nerve fibers run along the pituitary stalk and enter the pars distalis, and some GAL-ir nerve fibers even reach the center of the human anterior pituitary as well as in parenchyma of adenohypophysis. The number of SP-ir nerve fibers is much more than that of other kinds of peptidergic nerve fibers. All these peptidergic nerve fibers are mainly located in the medial part of the gland and distributed in its dorsal-posterior region. A substantial amount of these peptidergic nerve fibers with numerous varicosities are found to be close to the glandular tissue in the pars distalis of the human anterior pituitary. Furthermore, same SP-ir and CGRP-ir cells have been demonstrated in the pars distalis of the anterior pituitary. More or less, these peptidergic nerve fibers came also from the meningeal shell and enter the parenchyma of the anterior pituitary. Whatever the function of peptidergic nerve fibers in the human anterior pituitary might be, the concept that the adenohypophysis is regulated only hormonally by way of the portal system could be challenged.
先前的研究表明，肽能神经纤维存在于猴子、狗和大鼠的垂体前叶中。在我们报道的这项研究中，在人类垂体柄中发现了粗大的神经纤维束、大量的肽能神经纤维及其膨体，这些膨体对P物质（SP）、降钙素基因相关肽（CGRP）和甘丙肽（GAL）呈免疫反应性（ir）。所有这些肽能神经纤维都沿着垂体柄走行并进入远侧部，一些GAL-ir神经纤维甚至到达人类垂体前叶的中央以及腺垂体实质内。SP-ir神经纤维的数量远多于其他种类的肽能神经纤维。所有这些肽能神经纤维主要位于腺体的内侧部分，并分布在其后背区域。在人类垂体前叶远侧部发现大量有许多膨体的肽能神经纤维靠近腺组织。此外，在前叶远侧部已证实存在一些SP-ir和CGRP-ir细胞。或多或少，这些肽能神经纤维也来自脑膜，并进入垂体前叶的实质。无论肽能神经纤维在人类垂体前叶中的功能如何，腺垂体仅通过门脉系统进行激素调节这一概念可能会受到挑战。
