Paper Title
Zinc Deficiency Impact on the Anterior Pituitary Cells of Wistar Rats

Abstract
This study was aimed to investigate histological changes induced by zinc deficiency on the anterior pituitary of male Wistar rats. The experiments were set for 2 weeks. Thirty male Wistar rats were divided into three equal groups. The ZC (Control) and PF (Pair Fed) rats received 100 ppm zinc while 1.00 ppm of zinc was received by ZD (zinc deficient) group in the diet. Pituitaries were collected at the end of experiment and were processed for histological and morphometric studies. In ZC and PF groups (2-weeks) histological observations exhibited normal histo-architecture of acidophils, basophils, chromophobes, blood sinuses and dense interstitial connective tissue. Chromophobes and blood sinuses were also distinct. However, zinc deficient group (2- weeks) exhibited severe degenerative symptoms in the form of karyorhexis, loss of cellularisation, hypertrophy of basophil cells, signet ring nuclei, loss of cytoplasmic granules in acidophils and basophils with vacuolization of the interstitial connective tissue of the anterior pituitary. Morphometric studies revealed a significant (P<0.05) decrease in nuclear diameter of acidophils and basophils when comparison was carried out between ZC with ZD and PF with ZD. When ZC and PF groups were compared, the decrease of earlier features was non-significant. These observations provide evidence that the zinc is the regulatory factor for histological and cellular aspects of anterior pituitary. Keywords - Hypertrophy, acidophils, basophils, pituitary physiology, zinc