Characterization of seasonal changes in prolactin and growth hormone cells in the hypophyses of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus borealis) by ultrastructural and immunocytochemical techniques.

Prolactin and GH cells were identified in thin sections taken from the adenohypophyses of adult male (6) and female (8) white-tailed deer, collected during all seasons of the year, by locating portions of the same cells in adjacent thick plastic sections immunostained for either PRL or GH. Growth hormone cells were round to ovoid in shape and filled with dense spherical secretory granules which ranged in size from 168 to 682 nm, with a mean diameter of 367 +/- 18 nm (X +/- SD) in the 14 glands studied. No apparent seasonal changes were evident in the ultrastructural appearance of GH cells. Prolactin cells were small and angular in shape during the winter months and contained only a few small secretory granules. By early summer, they wee markedly hypertrophied, round to oval in shape, and densely packed with large spherical secretory granules. The increase in size of PRL secretory granules was most prominent in pregnant females in May, when their mean diameter was approximately double than in midwinter. The ultrastructural appearance of PRL cells in September was similar to that of cells studied in March. The size distribution of PRL secretory granules overlapped that of the GH granules, ranging from 114 to 564 nm, and the mean diameter was 246 +/- 53 nm, calculated from all 14 individual glands. Our observations suggest that the synthesis and secretion of PRL are closely linked to photoperiodic changes in this species, and they demonstrate the necessity of using specific immunocytochemical techniques in the ultrastructural identification of pituitary acidophils, and of specifying the time of year and location (specifies photoperiod) in studies concerning PRL physiology, particularly when dealing with wild animal populations.