For histological examination, pituitary tissue, tissue specimens from lung, myocardium, thyroid, and prostate and skin were fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin and processed for embedding in paraffin. Sections of 4 μm were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E). Immunohistochemical staining on sections of pituitary tissue was performed by the avidin–biotin technique using a polyclonal rabbit antibody to porcine GH, a polyclonal rabbit antibody to human ACTH1–39, and a polyclonal rabbit antibody to synthetic α-MSH (PU060-UP, Biogenex Laboratories, San Ramon, CA, USA).