Anorexia nervosa: an immunohistochemical study of the pituitary gland

The morphologic features of the anterior pituitary gland were studied by immunohistologic methods in 12 patients who had died of complications of anorexia nervosa, 4 patients who had died while on a "crash diet", 13 patients who had died of organic disease associated with inanition, and 5 age- and sex-matched control subjects who had been involved in sudden fatal accidents. All known pituitary hormones were found to be present. Abnormalities noted in both the patients with anorexia and those with organic inanition included relative hypogranulation of adrenocorticotropic and, to a lesser extent, growth hormone cells. These changes are of unknown importance but are likely the result of starvation in that they were not observed in patients on a "crash diet" or in control patients. We conclude that no specific or etiologic abnormalities are present in the pituitary glands of subjects with anorexia nervosa and that the altered secretion of adenohypophyseal hormones often noted in patients with this disorder cannot be attributed to a primary pituitary disorder.