Seasonal variations in the frontal organ of the frog: structural evidence and physiological correlates

Histological study of the frontal organ in the frog, Rana esculenta, was performed during spring, summer, autumn and winter. In semithin sections stained with toluidine blue, cells containing a vacuole were clearly detected during spring, and considerably increased during summer. Such cellular elements were absent in the frontal organ during autumn and winter. This morphological evidence of seasonal variation was supported by extracellular recording in the frontal organ in different seasons. Spontaneous firing rate was found to increase from the spring to the summer, and to decrease from the autumn to the winter. Altogether, these data indicate that the frontal organ may represent an autonomic component of the pineal complex with a secretory function producing neurohormonal messages involved in the annual mechanism of the reproduction.