Organ culture of human somatotrophic pituitary adenomas: ultrastructure and growth hormone production.

Ten somatotrophic adenomas removed from acromegalic patients and fragments of the non-tumoural surrounding pituitary were submitted to organ culture for periods of up to one month. Electron microscopic observation shows that these tumours retain their histological differentiation throughout the culture period. The cell morphology of the cultured tumours remains essentially unchanged and in particular the secretory granules keep their initial size (150 and 130 nm).