Statistical relationships of weight of the human pineal to age and malignancy

Abstract

A study of 147 human pineal glands from autopsy cases of all ages revealed a direct correlation between size and weight and a significant correlation of these with age but not with body weight, brain weight, sex or color. The growth pattern was nonlinear, with a sharp increase in size in the fifth and sixth decades. This increase was reduced but still apparent after removal of malignant cases from the sample. Pineal glands from malignant cases were significantly larger than the others. Histologic studies revealed a striking similarity of pineocytes from pineals of patients between ages 2 and 91, with no apparent differences in malignant cases. The authors conclude that the human pineal does not undergo cellular atrophy after puberty and that there is some relationship between the presence of malignancy and the weight of the human pineal.