Apinealism

APINEALISM, literally absence of the pineal gland (glandula pinealis, konarion, epiphysis), denotes in endocrinology the loss of the internal secretory influences of this organ prior to its physiological involution, which usually occurs by the onset of puberty. Clinical endocrinology considers pubertas praecox, or macrogenitosomia praecox, to be a consequence of the premature suppression of this gland's function. Indeed, in many cases of premature sexual maturation accompanied by accelerated growth, the appearance of secondary sexual characteristics, and libido, it is possible to detect a tumor of the epiphysis. In other cases, however, in the presence of a pineal gland tumor, obesity, cachexia, and symptoms of diabetes insipidus are observed. The histological picture of the tumors is also diverse and does not always make it possible to judge the functional significance of the morphological changes. Experimentally, apinealism is difficult to produce because removing this gland in mammals without damaging neighboring parts of the brain is extremely difficult. Foa succeeded in performing this operation on chicks. Chicks surviving the removal of the epiphysis showed disorders of normal development during the first two to three months. Thereafter, the development of the chickens proceeded quite normally; the roosters, however, showed accelerated growth of the sex glands and the early appearance of secondary sexual characteristics. Recent studies have confirmed these data. Along with this, however, there are indications that pinealectomy causes hypertrophy and enhanced function of the glandular part of the pituitary gland in the rooster, i.e., the state of the hypophysis with which modern endocrinology associates hypofunction of the sex organs. According to Marburg, hypopinealism is the cause of premature sexual maturity, whereas apinealism causes cachexia. The pathogenesis of the syndrome of epiphyseal insufficiency described by modern clinical medicine thus remains unclear, just as the physiological role of the gland itself is unclear. Along with hypotheses about the diverse internal secretory functions of this gland, the hypothesis cannot be dismissed that it is devoid of any physiological significance and represents a vestige which, due to the variegation of its morphological composition even in the norm, is a teratoid formation. Data from experimental pathology, clinical practice, and pathological anatomy do not exclude the possibility that in the pathogenesis of the phenomena of so-called apinealism, the main role is played not by the cessation of function of this organ, but by the disruption of the activity of neighboring vegetative nerve centers (see Pineal gland).