Effect of estradiol-17 alpha and diethylstilbestrol on adrenal cortex and anterior pituitary gland of the Mongolian gerbil.

Injection of diethylstilbestrol (DES) for 7 days in female gerbils significantly increased the number of vacuolar and membranous intranuclear inclusions with in mammotrophs of the anterior pituitary gland. The presence of multiple inclusions adjacent to the nuclear membrane suggests that vacuolar inclusions arise from the inner nuclear membrane. DES also increased significantly the number of lipid droplets in adrenocortical parenchymal cells and in macrophages of the zona reticularis. In contrast, estradiol-17 alpha induced only a few intranuclear inclusions in mammotrophs of castrated male gerbils after 14 days of injection. Estradiol-17 alpha injection was totally ineffective in causing accumulation of lipid droplets in macrophages or parenchymal cells of the zona reticularis, emphasizing the importance of stereo-specificity for inducing ultrastructural changes in the anterior pituitary and adrenal cortex of the Mongolian gerbil.