Angiotensin II stimulation of teleost adrenocorticotropic hormone release: interactions with urotensin I and corticotropin-releasing factor.

The release of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) from dispersed goldfish anterior pituitary cells was examined in order to determine whether human angiotensin II (AII) would potentiate the ACTH-releasing activity of urotensin I (UI) and ovine corticotropin-releasing factor (oCRF), peptides with a sequence homology of greater than 50%. In mammals, AII has a slightly enhancing or potentiating effect on CRF-stimulated ACTH release. In the present investigations, concentrations of AII (0.5 and 1 nM), and of UI (1 nM) or oCRF (3 nM), which elicit moderate increases in ACTH release, were tested alone and in combination. The ACTH-releasing activities of AII and UI combined, or of AII and oCRF combined, showed no potentiation and in fact were less than additive. It was concluded that AII does not potentiate the ACTH-releasing activity of either UI or oCRF observed with goldfish anterior pituitary cells in vitro.