Abstract
Optic and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and the LsAB method were used to immunolocalize TGFa, EGF, FGF-2 and their related receptors, which are involved in the regulation of organogenesis in the mouse hypophysis. Internalization of the above receptors and the active proliferation of the presumptive adenohypophysis and neurohypophysis were observed during the mid-foetal stage. CLSM images were used to map the distribution of Cx32in the proliferating hypophysis, particularly between the closely apposed neuro- and adenohypophyses. Using conventional transmission electron microscopy, gap junctions were observed at the boundary of these structures. The results suggest that cell coupling via gap junctions may provide positional information that is then used to control the differentiation of the hypophyseal cells.
