title: A sensitive and simple in vitro assay for corticotropin-releasing substances utilizing ACTH release from cultured anterior pituitary cells.
abstract: Graded doses of rat hypothalamic extract (HE) were added to dishes containing dispersed, pooled rat adenohypophyseal cells cultured for several days. ACTH secretion into the medium gave a linear log-dose response curve over a 100-fold range between 0.01 and 1 mg of NIH-HE (0.0125-1.25 rat hypothalamus). Forty percent of the maximal ACTH secretion in response to a given dose of HE occurred within 3 min. No decrease in intracellular ACTH occurred at any time or with any dose of HE, indicating that secretion was always balanced by production. ACTH secretion stopped as soon as HE-containing medium was replaced by medium without HE. The same cultured cells could be satisfactorily used in repetitive assays performed on the same or different days.
mesh_terms: D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003346:Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D008722:Methods; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000378:metabolism*; D010903:Pituitary Gland, Anterior / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone; D003346:Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone