Different hormones and growth factors control the homeostasis of the anterior pituitary gland. We examined the morphological features of pituitary thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH)-producing cells in juvenile and peripubertal female rats after treatments with estradiol-dipropionate (EDP), human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and a combination of both hormones (EDP+hCG). TSH-producing cells were labelled using a peroxidase-antiperoxidase immunohistochemical procedure for binding of a rabbit anti-rat beta-thyrotropic polyclonal antisera. Morphometric differences in the cytoplasmic and nuclear volume densities in thyrotropes after the treatments were determined using a stereological method. The relative weights of the pituitary glands were significantly higher in the EDP- and EDP+hCG-treated juvenile and peripubertal rats than in untreated age-matched controls. Treatment with EDP promoted a decrease, and treatment with hCG an increase, of the cellular and nuclear volumes in TSH cells in both juvenile and peripubertal females in comparison with the respective controls. Treatment with a combination of EDP+hCG did not induce any significant changes. The cytoplasmic and nuclear volume densities in TSH cells in the EDP+hCG-treated group were significantly higher than in the EDP-treated, and significantly lower than in hCG-treated rats at both growth stages. These findings suggest that estradiol and hCG exerted opposite effects on pituitary TSH-immunoreactive cells. The observed effects on thyrotrope morphology were apparently independent of the stage of development.