Effects of ACTH on RNA synthesis and migration in the adrenal cortex cells of the young rat, as shown by radioautography.

The effect of ACTH on the RNA synthesis in adrenal zona fasciculata cells of the young rat were studied by light and electron microscope radioautography. Two units of ACTH were administered sc to animals and immediately followed by an iv injection of [3H]uridine. ACTH-injected and control rats, which received the isotope alone, were sacrificed at various time intervals. Labelling over extranucleolar areas was higher in the ACTH-treated animals at 20 min, then becoming lower than in the controls at 60 min and 24 h. Nucleolar radioactivity, however, was consistently decreased by ACTH at all experimental times. Apart from these changes in the rate of synthesis, the over-all curves of labelling were similar to those in the control animals with a striking peak at 1 h. The short-term increase in extranucleolar RNA synthesis observed after ACTH injection was considered to be consistent with the hypothesis that an enhanced extranucleolar synthesis of mRNA takes place early in stimulated animals and is associated with the synthesis of steroidogenic proteins. On the other hand, the relatively decreased uridine uptake of the label by the nucleolus in ACTH-treated animals, suggests an inhibition of nucleolar transcription with diminished pre-rRNA formation in treated animals.