Glucocorticoids coordinately regulate procollagens type I and type III synthesis.

Antibodies to type I and type III procollagens were raised in rabbits and were made monospecific by chromatography on collagen and procollagen affinity columns. The antibodies were determined to be monospecific by the direct enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay inhibition assay. Rats were treated with various doses of triamcinolone diacetate, pulse-labeled with radioactive proline for 20 min, and the procollagens were precipitated with procollagen antibodies. The degree of inhibition of procollagen type I and type III synthesis to corticosteroid treatment was the same. This coordinate effect of glucocorticoids on the synthesis of the two procollagens was reversible, dose-dependent, time-dependent, and observed in lung as well as in skin. These data indicate that glucocorticoids coordinately regulate the synthesis of type I and type III procollagen in skin and lung to the same extent.