Acidophile (histology)
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An acidophile (or acidophil, or, as an adjectival form, acidophilic) describes is a term used by histologists to describe a particular staining pattern of cells and tissues when using haematoxylin and eosin stains. Specifically, the name refers to structures which "love" acid, and take it up readily.
It describes the microscopic appearance of cells and tissues, as seen down the microscope, after a histological section has been stained with an acidic dye. The most common such dye is eosin, which is the source of the related term eosinophilic.
[edit] Anterior pituitary
In the anterior pituitary, the term "acidophil" is used to describe two different types of cells:
- somatotrophs, which generate somatotropin
- mammotrophs, which generate prolactin
when using standard staining techniques, they cannot be distinguished from each other (though they can be distinguished from basophils and chromophobes)<ref>Histology at BU 14002loa</ref>, and are therefore identified simply as "acidophils".
[edit] References
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