Name: __________________________________________________ Date: ______________________________

Instructor: _______________________________________________ Score: _____________________________

Experiment No. 14
THE ENDOCRINE SYSTEM

I. Objective:
To illustrate and describe the histological features of the major organs that comprise the
endocrine system and to relate these to their functions.

II. Materials:
Microscope, prepared slides, reference books

III. Activity:

First, focus and the following slides with the low power objective of the microscope to get a
general view of the organ. Then, examine with high power objective to view in greater detail
the specific features of the tissue and cells.

A. Pituitary gland (hypophysis)

There are two (2) major divisions: the posterior pituitary, also called the
neurohypophysis, is the nervous portion, and the anterior pituitary, also called
adenohypophysis, is the glandular portion.

Observe the lobes of the pituitary glands: pars nervosa of the neurohypophysis;
adenohypophysis' pars distalis (anterior lobe), pars tuberalis, and pars intermedia.

The largest division is the pars distalis. The parenchyma of this lobe is formed of
anastomosing cords and clusters of epithelial cells separated from sinusoidal capillaries
by only a small amount of reticular fibers. There are two main types of cells in its
parenchyma: the chromophobe and the chromophil.
The chromophobes are small, rounded or polygonal, with faintly staining cytoplasm that
tend to appear in groups in the center of the cords. The cell boundaries are not easily
visible in ordinary preparations and generally on light microscopy, the cytoplasm lacks
specific granules. The chromophils are those with strongly staining cytoplasm and can
be separated further into basophils and acidophils based on their cytoplasmic staining
properties.

Pars intermedia is the thin zone of basophilic cells lying in irregular clusters between the
anterior and posterior pituitary. The pars intermedia also contains small cystic spaces
filled with eosinophilic material.

The pars tuberalis surrounds the infundibular stalk which connects the hypophysis with
the CNS.

Pars nervosa and and infundibular stalk consist th posterior pituitary (neurohypophysis).
It is largely composed of nonmyelinated axons, highly branched glial cells called
pituicytes, and connective tissue septa penetrating into gland.
B. Thyroid gland

Observe the spheroidal follicles of variable diameter, each with epithelium that can be
simple squamous, cuboidal, or low columnar follicular cells (thyrocytes), depending on
the state of activity of the thyroid gland. In highly active follicles, the epithelium is
cuboidal. In less active follicles, the epithelium appears flat. All follicles have central
lumen densely filled with acidophilic colloid (stored thyroglobulin), some of which show
retraction from the follicular wall or distortion as a result of slide preparation.

Also present are large pale-staining parafollicular or C cells. They may be located within
the follicular epithelium or present singly or in groups adjacent to the follicles. These
cells are larger and oval or varied in shape with lighter staining cytoplasm than that of
the follicular cells. The parafollicular cells are not directly located on the follicular
lumen. Instead, they are separated from the lumen by the processes of neighboring
follicular cells

Surrounding the thyroid follicles, the follicular cells, and the parafollicular cells is a thin
interfollicular connective tissue with numerous blood vessels and capillaries.

C. Parathyroid gland

Observe the glandular elements intermixed with adipose tissue.

There are two (2) types of glandular cells in the parathyroid gland: the chief or principal
cells are small, with round central nuclei and pale eosinophilic or clear cytoplasm, and
the oxyphils, which tend to occur in nodules, are larger and exhibit granular acidophilic
cytoplasm and smaller, dark-staining nuclei.

D. Adrenal (suprarenal) gland

At low magnification, the adrenal gland is seen to be divided into an outer cortex and a
pale-stained inner medulla. A dense fibrous tissue capsule invests the gland and
provides external support for a delicate collagenous framework supporting the secretory
cells.

At higher magnification, the adrenal cortex can be seen to consist of three histological
zones which are named according to the arrangement of the secretory cells:

1. Zona glomerulosa – the thin outer zone of the adrenal cortex. It is composed of cells
arranged in irregular ovoid clusters without lumen and separated by delicate fibrous
trabeculae, which are continuous with the fibrocollagenous capsule; both the
trabeculae and inner capsule contain prominent capillaries. The cells have round
nuclei and less cytoplasm than the cells in the adjacent zona fasciculata.

2. Zona fasciculata – the middle and broadest of the three cortical zones. It consists of
narrow columns and cords of cells, often only one cell thick, separated by fine
strands of collagen and wide-bore capillaries. The cell cytoplasm is abundant and
pale staining or appear vacuolated in routine histologic preparations due to the large
number of lipid droplets present.
 3. Zona reticularis -the thin, innermost layer of the adrenal cortex which lies adjacent to
the medulla. It consists of an irregular network of branching cords and clusters of
glandular cells, separated by numerous wide-diameter capillaries. The zona
reticularis cells are much smaller than those of the adjacent zona fasciculata, with less
cytoplasm. The cytoplasm is darker staining because it contains considerably fewer
lipid droplets. Brown lipofuscin pigment is sometimes seen in the cells of this layer.

The adrenal medulla is composed of clusters of chromaffin cells with granular, faintly
basophilic cytoplasm, with numerous capillaries in their fine supporting stroma. A
prominent vein is characteristically located in the center of the medulla.

F. Pineal gland (epiphysis cerebri)

Histologically, the pineal gland of the human brain has two types of cells in its
parenchyma:
1. Pinealocytes (pineal chief cells) – are highly modified neurons, arranged in clusters
and cords surrounded by a rich network of fenestrated capillaries. Pinealocytes have
round nuclei with prominent nucleoli and granular cytoplasm and many highly
branched processes, some of which terminate near or upon blood vessels.

2. Neuroglial cells – occur between clusters of pinealocytes and in association with

capillaries. They are similar to the astrocytes of the rest of the CNS.

A characteristic feature of the ageing pineal is the presence of basophilic extracellular

bodies called pineal sand, consisting of concentric layers of calcium and magnesium
phosphate in an organic matrix.

IV. Questions: