Effects of several in vitro systems on the potencies of putative adrenocorticotropin secretagogues on rat anterior pituitary cells.

We examined the effects of several in vitro experimental systems on the apparent potencies of putative secretagogues for stimulating ACTH release from rat anterior pituitary cells. Cells were prepared by trypsin digestion and gentle mechanical dispersion. Aliquots of the same cell preparations were tested in 1) a microperifusion system immediately after dispersion (day 0), 2) the same microperifusion system after 4 days of static suspension culture on a layer of Sephadex G-10 gel particles (day 4), 3) a static suspension system after 4 days of static suspension culture, and 4) a static monolayer system after 4 days of monolayer culture. Ovine CRF stimulated release of similar amounts of ACTH in all of the systems on days 0 and 4, except in one experiment, in which the response was less on day 4. Arginine vasopressin (AVP), oxytocin, and angiotensin II all appeared to be more potent in day 4 than in day 0 cells in the perifusion system, and the synergism of AVP with ovine CRF was also increased. Dioctanoylglycerol, which directly activates protein kinase-C, and forskolin, which directly activates adenylate cyclase, both stimulated greater release in day 4 cells. The mechanism(s) responsible for the difference in the responses of day 0 and day 4 cells is unknown. Epinephrine had only a small effect in the microperifusion system, but both epinephrine and norepinephrine had potencies comparable to AVP in the static suspension and monolayer systems. This was not due to prolonged exposure to the catecholamines, suggesting that these agents may act on other anterior pituitary cells to release metabolic products that secondarily stimulate the corticotrophs to release ACTH. The same situation appears to be true for atrial natriuretic factor. Gastrin-releasing peptide, its bioactive COOH-terminal half, which was active in a rat urinary bladder smooth muscle assay, its amphibian analog, bombesin, and cholecystokinin (26-33) were devoid of ACTH-releasing activity in all of the systems, in contrast to the findings of others. Since 4-day culture of dispersed cells improved most of their responses and diminished none, we postulate that they may more closely resemble normal pituitary cells in function, and since cellular metabolites are unlikely to accumulate in the interstitial fluid of the pituitary gland, we propose that the secretory functions of cells in perifusion systems may more closely resemble those in the pituitary gland in situ than they do in static incubation systems.