Ultrastructural study of the stellate cells of the adenohypophysis in an ovariectomized woman

: We have studied at the E.M. the adenohypophysis removed from a woman who had undergone bilateral ovariectomy 4 months earlier because of a disseminated breast cancer. Our study has focused on the submicroscopic aspects of follicular-stellate cells, whose function has not yet been fully ascertained, though it is known from studies carried out on laboratory animals, that these cells are activated under conditions of stimulus to hyperactivity of one or more of the cell types of the adenohypothysis. In our material we have observed numerous follicular structures with variable amounts of colloid-like substance. Follicular-stellate cells limiting colloid-filled cavities showed many cytoplasmic organules with hypertrophic Golgi complex, intracytoplasmic lumina, interdigitations of the cytoplasmic membranes. These aspects are consistent with a condition of hyperactivity of follicular-stellate cells due to bilateral ovariectomy.