Effects of prostaglandin E1 and indomethacin on ACTH, prolactin, GH and LH from rat pituitary in vitro.

The effects of prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) and indomethacin (IDM) on the release of several pituitary hormones from the rat pituitary were investigated in vitro. An addition of 2 microng/ml of PGE1 to the medium elicited the release of growth hormone (GH) and prolactin, but not of adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). Although the addition of 1 microng/ml of IDM alone resulted in no effect on the basal release of these hormones, IDM diminished the release of ACTH induced by crude rat hypothalamic extracts (HE) or lysine-8-vasopressin (LVP), and LH induced by HE or luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH). These findings implicate that a part of PGE1 action might be a direct one on the pituitary gland and PGE1 might release GH and prolactin, whereas IDM might have a direct action on the pituitary gland, and that blunt the release of these pituitary hormones induced by several stimuli.