Basal and KCl-stimulated corticotropin-releasing hormone release from human placental syncytiotrophoblasts is inhibited by sodium nitroprusside.

Human placenta synthesizes and secretes large amounts of CRH during the second and third trimesters. In the hypothalamus, nitric oxide (NO) has been reported to affect CRH release. We studied the effect of NO on the regulation of placental CRH secretion. The effect of the NO donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP) on basal and KCl-stimulated CRH release was examined in cultured human syncytiotrophoblasts. CRH secretion and intracellular concentrations of cGMP, calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaM-PK), protein kinase-G (PKG), protein kinase-C, and cAMP-dependent protein kinase holoenzyme were measured under basal conditions and after treatment with a depolarizing concentration of KCl and with SNP. The results showed that depolarization (3 h) increased CRH release 4-fold (from basal value of 5.16 +/- 0.65 to 19.31 +/- 4.46 fmol/10(6) cells); SNP (100 mumol/L) decreased both basal (0.42 +/- 0.21 fmol/10(6) cells) and KCl-stimulated CRH release (0.94 +/- 0.32 fmol/10(6) cells). KCl also increased the activity of CaM-PK in the cell membrane and both cytosolic and membrane PKG activity, whereas the activities of protein kinase-C and cAMP-dependent protein kinase holoenzyme were unchanged. SNP increased intracellular cGMP concentrations after 10, 60, and 180 min. Methylene blue (100 mumol/L), a guanylate cyclase inhibitor, blocked the inhibitory effects of SNP on CRH release. These results suggest that NO exerts inhibitory effects on both basal and KCl-stimulated CRH release from placental syncytiotrophoblasts through a cGMP-mediated pathway. In addition, as KCl-induced changes in the cell membrane were blocked by SNP, CaM-PK may be involved in KCl-stimulated CRH release. KCl may also sensitize the inhibitory pathway involved in the regulation of CRH release by increasing cellular PKG levels. The effects of KCl and SNP on CRH release are more complex than simple activation of CaM-PK and PKG activity, as other cellular signal transduction pathways are also modulated.