The teleosts pituitary gland has a peculiar structure that shows wide variability
of its morphology and cellular organization. Moreover, the pituitary gland usually
displays seasonal changes during the reproductive cycle. So, the present study is
designed to identify and localize the different cell types of the pituitary gland of
mature male and female of Liza carinata from the Suez Bay and to study the possible
variations that found during its reproductive cycle.
The result revealed that the pituitary gland of L. carinata is of the platybasic
type, which lacks a distinct hypophyseal stalk, and is differentiated into two main
divisions, namely: the adenohypophysis and neurohypophysis. The glandular
adenohypophysis consists of five main cell types, the lactotrophs, somatotrophs,
gonadotrophs, thyrotrophs and melanotrophs. On the other hand, the neurohypophysis
is formed of nerve fibres and contains a variable amount of neurosecretory granules.
Moreover, the principal seasonal variations take place in the meso-adenohypophyseal
gonadotrophs and the neurosecretory granules.