Regeneration of the Hypophysial Portal Vessels

Abstract

THERE Would seem little doubt that the nervous system controls the activity of the anterior pituitary gland, but the mechanism by which this control is exerted is debatable. Many workers have cut possible nerve pathways to the gland. Interruption or removal of the cervical sympathetic system, or the facial and petrosal nerves, has little or no effect on the normal functioning of the gland. Section of the pituitary stalk has given discordant results in the hands of different workers¹, but it would seem established that some animals retain normal anterior pituitary function after this operation. This fact indicates that the nerve fibres of the pituitary stalk are not involved in the link between the nervous system and the anterior pituitary, for once cut these fibres do not regenerate.