A morphometric study of subcellular responses in frog pituitary corticotropic cells to constant environmental conditions.

Ultrastructural morphometry (point-counting method) was used to evaluate stereological parameters of rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER), Golgi complex, secretory granules, mitochondria and lysosomes of Rana ridibunda pituitary corticotropic (ACTH) cells in animals subjected to constant environmental conditions (CEC) in relation to temperature and photoperiod. During this experiment, corticotropic cells are particularly sensitive to the effects of changes in environmental conditions in such a way that they course through a phase of RER and Golgi complex hypertrophy after 7 days on CEC and a phase of enhancement in the amount of secretory granules (the 11th day). After 15 days on CEC, the cells seemingly recuperate almost all the control evaluate parameters. These results strongly suggest that, in frog kept in captivity, ACTH cells play an important role in the acclimation process to new constant environmental conditions.