Interleukin-1beta Stimulates Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone (CRH) and Adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) Release by Rat Adrenal Gland in Vitro.
CRH and ACTH immunoreactivities (ir) were present in rat adrenal glands but not in adrenocortical autotransplants lacking chromaffin cells. Interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) dose-dependently elicited CRH-ir and ACTH-ir release by decorticated adrenal fragments mainly composed of zona-medullaris tissue; the minimum effective concentration was 10(-10)/10(-8)M, and the maximal one was 10(-6)M. The IL-1beta (10(-6)M)-induced ACTH release by our preparations was completely blocked by alpha-helical-CRH (10(-6)M), a competitive inhibitor of CRH. These findings suggest that chromaffin medullary cells of the rat adrenals contain a CRH/ACTH system, duplicating that operating at the hypothalamohypophyseal level, which is stimulated by IL-1beta. Thus, the mechanism underlying the well-known glucocorticoid secretagogue effect of interleukins may involve the activation of both the central and the peripheral branch of the hypothalamohypophyseal-adrenal axis.
Mazzocchi
G
G
Department of Anatomy, University of Padua, Via Gabelli 65, I-35121 Padua, Italy; and Department of Histology and Embryology, University of Poznan, Swiecickiego 6, PL-60781 Poznan, Poland.
Musajo
F G
FG
Malendowicz
L K
LK
Andreis
P G
PG
Nussdorfer
G G
GG