0000000000715650
AUTHOR
Bernhard J. M. Diehl
Occurrence and regional distribution of calcareous concretions in the rat pineal gland.
Serial sections of 90 Sprague-Dawley rat brains with the pineal in situ were scanned to determine the occurrence and regional distribution of calcareous concretions within the pineal gland and its surrounding leptomeningeal tissue. In 90% of the cases examined concretions were found in varying number and appearance, predominantly lying in the dorsal region of the pineal gland and in the distal portion of the pineal stalk. Discussing the hypothesis advanced by Lukaszyk and Reiter (1975) that the origin of pineal concretions may be related to a neurosecretory process involving a pineal carrier protein, called neuroepiphysin, it is thought that, in view of the intra- and extra-pineal occurrenc…
Cerebral blood flow in autogenic training and hypnosis.
In 12 healthy volunteers with at least an experience of six months in autogenic training (AT), the cerebral blood flow (CBF) was measured at rest, in AT and in hypnosis (H). The results were correlated with individual test profiles. The cortical flow pattern at rest of our AT trained volunteers did not show the hyperfrontality which is described in the literature. This may be interpreted as an effect of better and habitualized relaxation in long trained AT practitioners. This flow pattern corresponds to the low grades of neuroticism and aggressivity found in the tests. Furthermore an activation in central cortical areas and a deactivation in regions which are associated with acoustic and au…
Time-related changes in size of nuclei of pinealocytes in rats
In a study of 96 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats, da- and time-related changes of the mean nuclear volume of pinealocytes were determined with the aim of testing the reproducibility of the karyometric findings described by Quay and Renzoni (1966). It is shown (i) that statistically significant differences exist between the central and peripheral mean volumes of pinealocyte nuclei/group of animals and time point (p less than 0.001), (ii) that the day and time related differences are statistically different in both regions (p less than 0.001), (iii) that in the center and periphery of the pineal body different diurnal patterns exist, and (iv) that the diurnal patterns are not parallel in the t…
Occurrence and regional distribution of striated muscle fibers in the rat pineal gland
In a total of 96 rat pineals studied 31 were found to contain striated muscle fibers or their precursors. The muscle fibers were most frequently present in the stalk region and more frequently found in the left than in the right hemisphere. Size measurements revealed that the lengths of pineal muscle cell nuclei differ only slightly from those of the sphincter muscle of the iris. However, the yellowish appearance of pineal muscle cell nuclei under darkfield investigation, a phenomenon observed in all muscular tissues of mesenchymal origin and connective tissue cells, may support the hypothesis that pineal musculature is of mesenchymal rather than ectodermal origin.