pituicyte
Sign in to saveAlso known as pituitocytus, posterior pituitary pituicyte cells
Pituicytes are glial cells of the posterior pituitary. Their main role is to assist in the storage and release of neurohypophysial hormones.
Key facts
- Cell.Name
- Pituicyte
- Cell.Latin
- pituicytus
- Cell.Location
- Posterior pituitary
- Cell.Function
- Glial cell
via Wikipedia infobox
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Article
6 sectionsContents
- Structure
- Function
- Clinical significance
- See also
- References
- External links
Pituicytes are glial cells of the posterior pituitary. Their main role is to assist in the storage and release of neurohypophysial hormones.
==Structure== Pituicytes are located in the pars nervosa of the posterior pituitary and interspersed with unmyelinated axons and Herring bodies. They generally stain dark purple with an H&E stain and are among the easiest structures to identify in the region. Pituicytes have an irregular and branched shape which resembles that of another type of glial cell: the astrocyte. Like astrocytes, their cytoplasm presents specific intermediate filaments made up of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP).