Sakurai T, Seo H, Yamamoto N, Nagaya T, Nakane T, Kuwayama A, Kageyama N, Matsui N
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Nagoya University, Japan.
J Neurosurg. 1988 Nov;69(5):653-9. doi: 10.3171/jns.1988.69.5.0653.
Clinically nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas have been thought to synthesize some pituitary hormones as shown by studies involving cell culture, immunocytochemistry, or measurement of hormone levels in tumor homogenates. Nevertheless, they are not associated with hypersecretion of pituitary hormones. To further clarify hormone synthesis in such pituitary adenomas, the presence of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) of prolactin (PRL) growth hormone, and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) in the cytoplasm of 16 nonfunctioning adenomas was determined by means of a hybridization technique, and compared to the immunocytochemical findings. In three adenomas (19%) PRL mRNA was detected and in one case (6%) ACTH mRNA was detected. The hybridization technique appears to be more sensitive than immunohistochemistry for detection of specific mRNA's in assigning the hormone synthesis potential to clinically nonfunctioning tumors. The results suggest that PRL and ACTH are synthesized in some cases of clinically nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas and that hybridization techniques are useful to investigate hormone synthesis in pituitary adenomas. The ability to demonstrate PRL mRNA in tumor tissues allowed differentiation between hyperprolactinemia caused by synthesis of PRL in the tumor and that due to hypersecretion from the adjacent normal pituitary.
临床无功能垂体腺瘤被认为可合成一些垂体激素，细胞培养、免疫细胞化学或肿瘤匀浆中激素水平测定等研究已证实了这一点。然而，它们与垂体激素分泌过多并无关联。为进一步阐明此类垂体腺瘤中的激素合成情况，采用杂交技术测定了16例无功能腺瘤细胞质中催乳素（PRL）、生长激素及促肾上腺皮质激素（ACTH）信使核糖核酸（mRNA）的存在情况，并与免疫细胞化学结果进行了比较。在3例腺瘤（19%）中检测到了PRL mRNA，在1例（6%）中检测到了ACTH mRNA。在确定临床无功能肿瘤的激素合成潜能方面，杂交技术在检测特定mRNA时似乎比免疫组织化学更敏感。结果表明，在某些临床无功能垂体腺瘤病例中可合成PRL和ACTH，且杂交技术有助于研究垂体腺瘤中的激素合成。在肿瘤组织中检测到PRL mRNA的能力，使得能够区分由肿瘤中PRL合成导致的高催乳素血症与相邻正常垂体分泌过多所致的高催乳素血症。
