Hiraki H, Hoshi N, Hasegawa H, Tanigawa T, Emura I, Seito T, Yamaki T, Fukuda T, Watanabe K, Suzuki T
Department of Pathology, Fukushima Medical College, Japan.
Pathol Int. 1997 Feb-Mar;47(2-3):117-25. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1827.1997.tb03730.x.
The localization of endothelin (ET)-1/big ET-1, ET-3/big ET-3, ET-A and ET-B receptor was immunohistochemically examined in human adrenal glands composed of 36 normal cases, nine hyperplasia, 70 adenomas and seven carcinomas of cortical cells. In normal adrenals, ET-1/big ET-1 and ET-B receptor were regularly detected in the cortical cells, especially in the zona fasciculata for ET-1 and zona glomerulosa for ET-B receptor but not in the medulla, while ET-A receptor localized occasionally in endothelial cells or rarely in cortical cells and ET-3/big ET-3 was very limited in the cortical cells. In hyperplasia, adenoma and carcinoma, ET-1/big ET-1 and ET-B receptor showed frequent localization, although focal distribution of the ET-B receptor was rather predominant in these groups. ET-A receptor and ET-3/big ET-3 were very infrequently expressed. Functioning versus non-functioning and hypertensive versus normotensive cases revealed no significant differences in the frequency of positive cells for ET-1/big ET-1, ET-3/big ET-3, ET-A receptor or ET-B receptor. Alternatively, the frequency of immunoreactivity to ET-1/big ET-1 or ET-B receptor significantly decreased in hyperplasia, adenoma and carcinoma, when compared with that of normal adrenal cortex. The present study, therefore, indicates that ET-1/big ET-1 and ET-B receptor are a prevalent ligand-receptor system in normal and hyperplastic/neoplastic adrenocortical cells, even with a malignant profile, and may contribute in maintaining adrenocortical cell function or cell viability but not cell growth or systemic hypertension.
采用免疫组织化学方法检测了36例正常肾上腺、9例增生、70例腺瘤及7例皮质癌组织中内皮素（ET）-1/大ET-1、ET-3/大ET-3、ET-A和ET-B受体的定位。在正常肾上腺中，ET-1/大ET-1和ET-B受体在皮质细胞中呈规律性表达，尤其是ET-1在束状带、ET-B受体在球状带，但在髓质中未检测到；ET-A受体偶尔定位于内皮细胞，很少见于皮质细胞，ET-3/大ET-3在皮质细胞中的表达非常有限。在增生、腺瘤和癌组织中，ET-1/大ET-1和ET-B受体表达频繁，尽管ET-B受体的局灶性分布在这些组织中更为明显。ET-A受体和ET-3/大ET-3很少表达。有功能与无功能、高血压与血压正常的病例在ET-1/大ET-1、ET-3/大ET-3、ET-A受体或ET-B受体阳性细胞频率方面无显著差异。然而，与正常肾上腺皮质相比，增生、腺瘤和癌组织中ET-1/大ET-1或ET-B受体的免疫反应频率显著降低。因此，本研究表明，ET-1/大ET-1和ET-B受体是正常及增生/肿瘤性肾上腺皮质细胞中普遍存在的配体-受体系统，即使是恶性肿瘤细胞，它们可能有助于维持肾上腺皮质细胞功能或细胞活力，但与细胞生长或全身性高血压无关。
