Boya J, Calvo J
Acta Anat (Basel). 1979;104(1):104-22. doi: 10.1159/000145060.
The structural pattern of the pineal gland in the hen corresponds to a more advanced stage of the evolution which began in an early period of the animal's life. This evolution corresponds mainly to the transformation of the large follicular cavities into cellular 'rosettes'. The parafollicular layer disappears from the rosette wall which thus remains with only one row of cells (A and B pinealocytes). The cellular hypertrophy and the great development of the pinealocyte organelles in the adult pineal gland makes us think of this gland as a functionally active organ. This functional activity must have remained during the entire period of the time studied (1--5 years), due to the ultrastructural uniformity found and due to the fact that we could not observe any type of degenerative process in the gland.
母鸡松果体的结构模式对应于动物生命早期开始的进化的一个更高级阶段。这种进化主要对应于大滤泡腔向细胞“玫瑰花结”的转变。滤泡旁层从玫瑰花结壁消失，因此玫瑰花结壁仅剩下一排细胞（A和B松果体细胞）。成年松果体中细胞肥大以及松果体细胞细胞器的高度发育使我们认为该腺体是一个功能活跃的器官。由于发现的超微结构一致性以及我们在腺体中未观察到任何类型的退化过程，这种功能活性在整个研究时间段（1 - 5年）内必定一直存在。
