Electrolytic lesions of the pituitary stalk in rats interrupt adenohypophysial blood flow and result in massive infarction of the anterior lobe. In order to obtain a deeper insight into the morphogenesis of tissue injury and to reveal the sequence of events, a fine structural investigation was undertaken on adenohypophyses of rats at various intervals following destruction of the pituitary stalk.The pituitary stalk was destroyed electrolytically, with a Horsley-Clarke apparatus on 27 male rats of the R-Amsterdam strain, weighing 180-200 g. Thirty minutes, 1,2,4,6 and 24 hours after surgery the animals were perfused with a glutaraldehyde-formalin solution. The skulls were then opened and the pituitary glands removed. The anterior lobes were fixed in glutaraldehyde-formalin solution, postfixed in osmium tetroxide and embedded in Durcupan. Ultrathin sections were stained with uranyl acetate and lead citrate and investigated with a Philips 300 electron microscope.
