[Direct and indirect hormonal effects on the function of the adenohypophysis]

The author presents the results obtained at the Laboratory of Hormone Biological Standardization, Institute of Experimental Endocrinology and Chemistry of Hormones, AMS USSR. The combination of adenohypophyseal cell cultivation with radioimmunoassay to determine hypophyseal hormones and the technique of labeled precursors provided an opportunity to definea group of regulators influencing the adenohypophysis directly, and to isolate it from biologically active factors, a hypophyseotropic effect of which is mediated by the hypothalamus. It has been shown that some secretogenes can play the role of the regulators of cell division in the adenohypophysis. The effects of the hormonal regulators on the proliferation and differentiation of hypophyseocytes are made both directly and indirectly. The diversity of regulatory effects on some hypophyseal functions is emphasized; it results in the recognition of heterogeneity of some endocrinopathies previously regarded as belonging to the same nosological entities.