The influence of interleukin-2 on the release of somatostatin and growth hormone-releasing hormone by mediobasal hypothalamus.

Interleukin-2 (IL-2), which plays a major role in the bidirectional intercellular communication between the neuroendocrine and immune systems, suppressed the release of GH from anterior pituitary halves at femtomolar concentrations. It is well established that the release of GH from the anterior pituitary is regulated by growth hormone releasing hormone (GRH) and growth hormone release-inhibiting hormone (somatostatin). Consequently, we studied the possible effect of IL-2 on the release of somatostatin and GRH from the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH) in vitro. Single MBHs were incubated with fresh Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate (KRB) buffer alone or KRB containing different concentrations of IL-2 (10(-15)-10(-10) M) for 30 min. After collection of the media, the MBHs were incubated with KRB containing high potassium (high K+ = 56 mM) without IL-2 for a period of 30 min to study the effect of pretreatment with IL-2 on depolarization-induced somatostatin and GRH release. Experiments were also undertaken to study the effect of IL-2 in the presence of high K+ or IL-2 in the presence of DA (60 microM), a potent stimulator of somatostatin and GRH release. The minimal effective dose of IL-2 which significantly stimulated the release of somatostatin was 10(-14) M. Depolarization-induced release of somatostatin was reduced significantly by prior treatment with all the concentrations of IL-2 tested (10(-13)-10(-10) M).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)