©2008 European Journal of Histochemistry The effects of chronic treatments with SRIH-14 and

octreotide on pituitary corticotropes (ACTH cells) and on the adrenal cortex of male Wistar rats were examined. Adult males received two daily s.c. injections of 20 µg/100 g of body weight of either SRIH-14 or octreotide for 28 consecu-tive days. ACTH cells were studied using a peroxidase-antiperoxidase immunocytochemical procedure. Morpho-metry was used to evaluate the changes in cell and nuclear volumes (µm3) and volume densities (%) of ACTH-immunoreactive cells. The adrenal cortex was analyzed by histological and morphometric methods. A significant (p<0.05) decrease in body weight and in the absolute weights of the pituitary and adrenal glands was observed in both treated groups. Morphometric parameters of ACTH cells in both treated groups were not significantly (p>0.05) differ-ent than in control rats. The absolute volumes of the adrena