Using high performance liquid chromatography, the level of retinoids was determined in the bovine pineal gland, retina, retinal pigment epithelium, cortical and subcortical brain tissues, skeletal muscle and the liver. Except the retina, the bovine pineal gland possesses levels of retinol and retinyl esters significantly higher than other brain tissues and muscle. However, unlike the retina, th...

Introduction The relationship between the moon's cycles and menses is so fundamental that the two phenomena are reiated linguistically. The terms 'moon' and 'menstruation' share the same Latin or Greek root, m-, meaning 'to measure,' Various world religions and cuitures have acknowledged the bond between women and the moon. Traditional Chinese Medicine links the moon with the feminine, or yin p...

Background: Benzodiazepines are the most frequently used drug for the treatment of insomnia. Prolonged use of benzodiazepine therapy is not recommended. However, many patients, particularly older patients, have difficulties discontinuing therapy. Melatonin, a hormone that is produced at night by the pineal gland, promotes normal sleep in humans and augments sleep induction by benzodiazepine the...

The adult pineal gland is composed of pinealocytes, astrocytes, microglia, and other interstitial cells that have been described in detail. However, factors that contribute to pineal development have not been fully elucidated, nor have pineal cell lineages been well characterized. We applied systematic double, triple and quadruple labeling of cell-specific markers on prenatal, postnatal and mat...

Pineal metastasis is uncommon and most metastatic pineal lesions are asymptomatic. To our knowledge the herein reported case is the first in which the pineal gland was confirmed as the metastatic site of a bladder carcinoma.The patient reported in this case is a 59-year-old man who suffered from headache and delirium for 4 days after surgical treatment for removal of a bladder carcinoma 1 year ...

Sympathetic nerve fibers arising from the superior cervical ganglia are the main innervation of the rat pineal gland. Since most organs innervated by these ganglia contain nerve growth factor (NGF), the hypothetical existence of NGF in the pineal gland was investigated. The peroxidase anti-peroxidase technique was applied for the immunohistochemical demonstration of NGF using a polyclonal antis...

S progress is punctuated with revolutions of insight andyor technology that at least temporarily cast aside valid frames of thought. Like the Titanic losers to the Olympian gods in Keats’ unfinished epic Hyperion (1) from whence the title of this commentary comes, ‘‘vanquished’’ ideas or approaches frequently offer important alternatives to prevailing model systems. The successes of molecular g...

PURPOSE To use MR imaging in the analysis of the size of the normal pineal gland in infants, children, and adolescents. METHODS We retrospectively analyzed the size of the pineal gland in 249 patients (129 male and 120 female) aged 2 weeks to 20 years old. The maximum length (L), height (H), and width (W) of the gland were determined from a combination of sagittal, coronal, and axial MR image...

This is the first reported case of pineal lymphoma with concomitant prolactin-producing pituitary adenoma.A 51-year-old male experienced worsening headaches accompanied by nausea, diplopia, and memory loss for 1 month. Cranial nerve examination revealed bilateral upward gaze limitation with convergence impairment, which is known as Parinaud syndrome. Magnetic resonance images revealed a mass in...

It has been demonstrated that cytokine activities are under neuroendocrine control, recently mainly exerted by the pineal gland through the circadian secretion of its main hormone melatonin (MLT). It is mainly released during the night, but at present it is still unclear which relation exists between MLT and the circadian secretion of cytokines. This study was performed to evaluate the circadia...