Ultrastructural aspects of the effect of calcium ionophore A23187 on incubated anterior pituitary cells of rats.

In order to study the fine structural effect of calcium influx on secretory activity of rat anterior pituitary cells, small pieces of anterior pituitary were incubated in Krebs' medium containing the calcium ionophore A23187 (0.15 mM) and were examined electron microscopically. Marked changes were present in all types of secretory cells incubated for 3, 12 and 20 min in the medium containing calcium and A23187. Secretory granules tended to accumulate in the peripheral cytoplasm of the secretory cells, and more numerous images of granule release by exocytosis were observed in somatotroph (STH cell), luteotroph (LTH cell), thyrotroph (TSH cell), corticotroph (ACTH cell), type 1 gonadotroph (Type 1 GTH cell), and type 2 gonadotroph (Type 2 GTH cell). In addition to the increase in the number of exocytosis of single granules, the simultaneous extrusion of multiple granules, "multigranular exocytosis", was often observed in all kinds of secretory cells, especially the ACTH-cells. Large numbers of granule cores were often located in large vacuole-like or channel-like structures, irregular in shape and size, which were open to the intercellular or pericapillary space. Some parts of the membrane of the vacuole-like or channel-like structures were coated. These observations are interpreted to suggest that the calcium influx stimulates the extrusion of the secretory granules by single or multigranular exocytosis.