A look inside the head

Another trip into the micro world. This is a very thin section through a mammalian pituitary gland which has been mounted on a glass slide and then  stained to show different kinds of cells. I prepared the slide in 1965 and it has been sitting in a box ever since.
The pituitary, which is an endocrine, i.e hormone-secreting, gland, is to be found at the base of the brain sitting in a bony cavity at the base of the skull. Mine, and yours, will be about the size of a garden pea.
Based on the kinds of stains that they take up the cells are classified as chromophobes, acidophils and basophils; each type produces different hormones which control different tissues in the body. All the cells have a round nucleus, stained red in this preparation.
The acidophils produce growth hormone which targets most tissues and prolactin which stimulates milk producing cells.
The basophils control the activity of the adrenal glands, the thyroid gland, and the testes and ovaries.
The chromophobes are inactive or resting cells.
It all makes for a most beautiful and complex structure.