D-2 dopamine receptor-mediated inhibition of pro-opiomelanocortin synthesis in rat intermediate lobe. Abolition by pertussis toxin or activators of adenylate cyclase.

Stimulation of the D-2 dopamine receptor inhibits pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) synthesis in isolated rat intermediate lobe tissue. Intermediate lobe tissue was incubated in the absence or presence of various dopaminergic compounds, and then its capacity to incorporate [3H]tyrosine into POMC was tested. D-2 dopaminergic agonists caused a dose-dependent inhibition of POMC synthesis; the maximal inhibitory effect was approximately a 50% reduction in the amount of POMC synthesized. D-2 dopaminergic antagonists blocked the inhibitory effect of each agonist. Pretreatment of the tissue with pertussis toxin abolished the D-2 dopaminergic inhibition of POMC synthesis. The potency of pertussis toxin in abolishing the dopaminergic inhibition of POMC synthesis corresponded to its potency in abolishing the D-2 dopaminergic inhibition of adenylate cyclase activity. Cholera toxin, forskolin, and 8-bromo-cAMP, compounds that activate the cAMP pathway, enhanced the capacity of intermediate lobe tissue to synthesize POMC and counteracted the dopaminergic inhibition of POMC synthesis. Incubation of intermediate lobe tissue for 24 h with bromocriptine, a D-2 dopaminergic agonist, decreased the POMC mRNA content by 46% as determined by hybridization of RNA to a 32P-labeled probe. Incubation of intermediate lobe tissue with forskolin increased the level of POMC mRNA; incubation of the tissue with a combination of bromocriptine and forskolin also resulted in an increase in the level of POMC mRNA. It is proposed that Ni, the inhibitory guanyl nucleotide binding protein, and possibly adenylate cyclase mediate the dopaminergic inhibition of POMC synthesis.