The role of the adrenal gland in cytoprotection against stress-induced gastric ulcers in rats.

Subcutaneous treatment with either prednisone or isoproterenol significantly prevented the development of cold plus restraint stress (CRS)-induced gastric ulcers in rats. The effect of each agent was dose-dependent. Bilateral adrenalectomy prevented isoproterenol, but not prednisone-induced gastric cytoprotection. However, prednisone (1 mg/kg X 5 days) restored the ability of isoproterenol to afford cytoprotection in adrenalectomized rats. Finally, inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis with indomethacin (5 mg/kg) totally abolished the cytoprotective response to both prednisone and isoproterenol in this CRS model. These results indicate that glucocorticoids modulate the cytoprotective effect of adrenal catecholamines, and that both adrenal glucocorticoids and catecholamines require an intact prostaglandin synthetic pathway for expression of their cytoprotective properties.