Ultrastructural study of the hypophysial neural lobe of newborn rats in tissue culture.

Neural lobes of newborn rats were cultured for two weeks after transection of the infundibulum. The pituicytes display phagocytic capacity, as do mature pituicytes in vivo, and eventually eliminate degenerating neurosecretory axons. A peculiar glycogen accumulation exists at the time of advanced phagocytosis of axonal elements. Cultured pituicytes are similar to immature pituicytes in vivo. The numerous processes form a network with comparatively wide intercellular spaces, and an intercellular canalicular system appears. the cells are interconnected by gap- and desmosome type-junctions.