Morphometric Study of Connective Tissue in the Human Pituitary during Aging Process

SUMMARY The aim of the research was to quantify the connective tissue and blood vessels in the aging human pituitary, using the morphometric methods. The material contained 29 pituitary tissues from cadavers of both sexes (14 females and 15 males), aged 33-95 years. The pituitary tissue was processed by standard histological procedure and stained by Mallory trichrome method. Histological samples were analyzed using a light microscope with magnification of 400x. Morphometric analysis was performed on digital pictures with the resolution of 1.3 megapixels, at 40 pituitary visual fields of each case examined. Fovea Pro 4 system was used for the analysis. Above the digital images of each field of view, there was inserted a simple network test system. Using this programme, there were determined bulk densities of connective tissue and blood vessels in the examined cases. The results were statistically analyzed using the package NCSS-PASS 2007. Correlation analysis showed that the bulk density of connective tissue statistically significantly increased during aging. The average bulk density of blood vessels in the pituitary manifested statistically significant decrease during the aging process. These results were confirmed by the linear regression analysis. The average bulk density of the connective tissue, as well as the average bulk density of blood vessels in the pituitary cases, did not differ significantly among males and females. The process of aging is followed by the proliferation of the connective tissue and fibrosis of the pituitary, which is accompanied by the reduction of its vascular network. Sažetak Cilj istraživanja bio je da se morfometrijskom metodom kvantifikuje prisustvo vezivnog tkiva i prokrvljenost adenohipofize tokom starenja čoveka. Materijal je tkivo adenohipofize 29 kadavera oba pola (14 ženskih i 15 muških), starosti 33-95 godina. Tkivo hipofize obrađeno je standardnom histološkom procedurom i bojeno Mallory trihromnom metodom. Dobijeni histološki preparati analizirani su pomoću svetlosnog mikroskopa pod uvećanjem 400x. Morfometrijska analiza je obavljena na digitalnim fotografijama rezolucije 1.3 mega piksela, po 40 vidnih polja adenohipofize svakog od ispitanih slučajeva, uz pomoć Fovea Pro 4 sistema za analizu. Preko digitalne slike svakog vidnog polja superponiran je prosti mrežni testni sistem. Pomoću njega su određivane zapreminska gustina vezivnog tkiva (Vvt) i krvnih sudova (Vvks) ispitanih slučajeva, koje su izračunavane pomoću formule Kališnika (1985). Dobijeni rezultati su statistički analizirani korišćenjem paketa NCSS-PASS 2007. Korelaciona analiza je ukazala da zapreminska gustina vezivnog tkiva analiziranih slučajeva statistički značajno raste tokom procesa starenja. Prosečna zapreminska gustina krvnih sudova adenohipofize ispoljavala je statistički značajan pad tokom procesa starenja. Ovi rezultati su potvrđeni linearnom regresionom analizom. Prosečna zapreminska gustina vezivnog tkiva, kao i prosečna zapreminska gustina krvnih sudova adenohipofiza kod muškog i ženskog pola ne razlikuju se statistički značajno. Proces starenja praćen je proliferacijom vezivnog tkiva i fibrozom adenohipofize koja je praćena redukcijom njene vaskularne mreže.