title: Diminished adrenal steroidogenic activity in aging rats: new evidence from adrenal cells cultured from young and aged normal and hypoxic animals.
abstract: Adrenal cells from 2-6-month-old young rats (Y cells) and from 19-25-month-old aged male rats (O cells) were adapted to primary monolayer culture. The cultures of Y and O cells appeared to be primarily epithelial and rounded up in response to stimulation with adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). The general morphology of O cells was comparable to that observed in Y cells except for the presence of lipofuscin-like granules, a cellular marker of aging, in O cells, but not in Y cells. ACTH-stimulated steroid production by O cells was 52% lower than that by Y cells. Exposure of intact young rats to hypoxia (0.5 atmosphere) for 21 days prior to sacrifice and culture resulted in a 122% increase of ACTH-stimulated adrenal steroidogenic activity in the cultured cells, but this effect was not observed in adrenal cells cultured from hypoxic aged rats. The results suggest that there is an age-related diminution in rat adrenal steroidogenic capacity in response to ACTH stimulation in culture derived from Y and O animals; hypoxic stress magnifies this difference.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: I A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Horst
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Mader
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kowal
mesh_terms: D000302:Adrenal Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D003994:Bucladesine / Q000494:pharmacology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003366:Cosyntropin / Q000494:pharmacology; D003594:Cytoplasmic Granules / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000473:pathology*; D008062:Lipofuscin / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D013256:Steroids / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D008062:Lipofuscin; D013256:Steroids; D003366:Cosyntropin; D003994:Bucladesine