Dexamethasone effects on somatostatin receptors in pancreatic acinar AR4-2J cells.

The effects of glucocorticoids on somatostatin binding and cAMP response in the rat pancreatic acinar carcinoma AR4-2J cell line were examined. Dexamethasone treatment reduced the number of somatostatin receptors 2.5 fold without any change in receptor affinity. In addition, dexamethasone increased the sensitivity of the cells to somatostatin-inhibited cAMP formation and restored the biphasic pattern of cAMP response to somatostatin previously observed in normal pancreatic acinar cells. Such effect may be associated with the glucocorticoid-promoted cellular pancreatic differentiation of AR4-2J cells.