Regulation of growth hormone and prolactin gene expression and secretion by chimeric somatostatin-dopamine molecules

Dopamine (DA) regulates both prolactin (PRL) secretion and gene expression, whereas somatostatin (SRIF) inhibits GH secretion with unclear effects on GH gene expression. We therefore tested the effects of SRIF analogs and chimeric SRIF/DA compounds BIM 23A760 and BIM 23A761 on GH and PRL secretion and gene expression in primary rat pituitary cultures and pituitary tumor GH(3) and MMQ cells. Chimeric SRIF/DA molecules suppressed GH release with a similar efficacy to SRIF receptor subtype 2 agonists in rat pituitary and GH(3) cells. After 24 h, BIM 23A760 and BIM 23A761 did not exert additive effects on GH secretion, and after 48 h were less effective than the combination of respective mono-receptor agonists in GH(3) cells. Real-time PCR did not reveal changes in GH mRNA levels after treatment with SRIF analogs and SRIF/DA molecules. SRIF/DA compounds suppressed PRL and PRL mRNA in rat pituitary and MMQ cells with a similar efficacy to D(2)-DA receptor agonist. In GH(3) cells, they suppressed PRL and PRL mRNA levels with a similar efficacy to SRIF receptor subtype 2 agonists. SRIF/DA molecules did not exhibit additive effects on PRL secretion and mRNA levels as compared with cotreatment with mono-receptor ligands. The results show that SRIF analogs and SRIF/DA molecules inhibit GH and PRL secretion and suppress PRL but not GH gene expression.     

Effects of the gp130 cytokines ciliary neurotropic factor (CNTF) and interleukin-11 on pituitary cells: CNTF receptors on human pituitary adenomas and stimulation of prolactin and GH secretion in normal rat anterior pituitary aggregate cultures

Two of the most potent cytokines regulating anterior pituitary cell function are leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and interleukin (IL)-6, which belong to the cytokine family using the common gp130 signal transducer. Recently, the expression and action of two other members of this family, IL-11 and ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), on different cell lines has also been demonstrated. We studied the expression of the specific receptor subunits for CNTF in mammotropic, non-functioning and somatotropic tumors and the action of CNTF and IL-11 in the regulation of hormone secretion in these and normal pituitary cells. The mRNA for the alpha chain specific for the CNTF receptor was detected by Northern blot in tumors secreting prolactin (PRL) and GH and in non-functioning tumors. We found that both IL-11 and CNTF exerted a similar stimulatory effect on GH mRNA expression in somatotropic monolayer cell cultures from acromegalic tumors, but these cytokines had no significant influence on GH secretion. CNTF stimulates prolactin secretion in lactotropic monolayer cell cultures from patients with prolactinoma. In monolayer cell cultures from normal rat anterior pituitary, IL-11 and CNTF had no significant effect on the release of either GH or PRL, or on GH mRNA. However, when the cells were cultured in aggregate cultures, in which the three-dimensional structure of the cells is reconstituted, both cytokines, in doses at which they had no effect on monolayer cultures, significantly stimulated both PRL and GH secretion. These data show that IL-11 and CNTF may act as regulatory factors in anterior pituitary cells, in which the three-dimensional structure of the gland is of critical importance.     

Growth hormone regulation in primary fetal and neonatal rat pituitary cell cultures: the role of thyroid hormone

GH is first detectable in the fetal rat pituitary between gestational days 18 and 19. The reasons for the GH surge soon after birth and subsequent postnatal decline to adult levels remain unclear. We therefore determined whether GH gene regulation in the developing pituitary could be distinguished from adult rat somatotroph function. In primary cultures of fetal and neonatal rat pituitary cells, GH secretion was detected by the 20th gestational day. These cells were stimulated by GH-releasing hormone (GHRH), but not by T3 or the morphogen retinoic acid. The stimulatory effect of T3 (0.25 mM) on GH secretion was detected only on the 2nd neonatal day and was similar to that seen in mature rat pituitary cell cultures. GHRH (10 nM) treatment for 24 h caused a 5-fold induction of GH secretion in pituitary cells derived from 2-, 5-, and 12-day-old neonatal rats. The presence or absence of T3 in the culture medium did not alter the response to GHRH. In contrast, only 2-fold induction of GH was observed in adult male pituitary cells during the same time course. Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I; 6.5 nM), the peripheral target hormone for GH, resulted in a modest (20%) attenuation of GH secretion from pituitary cells derived from 20-day-old fetuses. IGF-I, however, produced a 70% reduction in GH levels in adult male pituitary cells grown under similar conditions. The effects of IGF-I on adult pituitary cells grown in T3-depleted medium were blunted. Addition of T3 partially restored the responsiveness of these cells to IGF-I. The results suggest that the high circulating GH levels in the fetal and neonatal rat may be secondary to relative insensitivity of the immature somatotroph to the inhibitory actions of IGF-I in addition to enhanced responsiveness to GHRH compared with the adult rat pituitary. Relative thyroid hormone deficiency in the immature rat may be contributory to this early transient state of pituitary IGF-I resistance.     

The effect of thyroid hormones on growth hormone gene expression in vivo in rats

Thyroid hormones are important regulators of GH synthesis and secretion. In this study we have made a detailed examination of the time-course of the effects of hypothyroidism and tri-iodothyronine (T3) replacement in the intact rat on GH gene expression in the anterior pituitary gland. Changes in pituitary cytoplasmic GH messenger (m)RNA levels were compared with total pituitary GH content and serum GH concentration during the development of hypothyroidism and following short-term T3 replacement in vivo. Hypothyroidism was associated with a fall in pituitary GH mRNA levels. Treatment of hypothyroid animals with T3 rapidly stimulated GH mRNA levels to values above those seen in euthyroid controls. The reduction in GH mRNA levels seen during the development of hypothyroidism was accompanied by a fall in serum GH and pituitary GH content, both of which were partially restored by T3 replacement. Thus thyroid hormone replacement in hypothyroidism rapidly stimulates GH mRNA synthesis, which is followed by the gradual restoration of pituitary GH stores and serum GH concentration.     

Identification of latent tissue kallikrein, prolactin and growth hormone secretion in GH3 pituitary cells using modified radioimmunoassays

Our studies demonstrate that rat anterior pituitary cells (GH3) are capable of synthesizing and secreting tissue kallikrein together with prolactin and growth hormone. The secretion of prolactin and growth hormone in GH3 cells was measured by two newly developed sensitive radioimmunoassays (RIA), using the polyethylene glycol separation technique. In the direct radioimmunoassay for rat tissue kallikrein, using a polyclonal antiserum which recognizes both active and prokallikrein, the GH3 kallikrein displays parallelism with standard curves of rat urinary kallikrein. The production of immunoreactive kallikrein, prolactin, and growth hormone is time-dependent, and the levels after a 72 h incubation in serum-free media are approximately 12.2 +/- 4.4 ng, 272.2 +/- 33.0 ng, and 475.6 +/- 4.8 ng per 10(6) cells per ml (mean +/- SD, n = 3), respectively. In Western blot analyses, a specific monoclonal antibody to tissue kallikrein (V4D11) identifies GH3-secreted kallikrein as a approximately 39,000 Da protein, slightly larger than approximately 38,000 Da kallikreins of submandibular gland, mouse anterior pituitary cells (AtT 20) or rodent neuroblastoma X glioma hybrid cells (NG108). Kallikrein mRNA in GH3 cells was identified in Northern blot analyses, using a tissue kallikrein cDNA probe. In a RIA using a kallikrein monoclonal antibody (V1C3) recognizing only active kallikrein, kallikrein could not be detected in the media incubated up to 48 h with GH3 cells. However, after trypsin treatment, a time-dependent increase of immunoreactive kallikrein (using monoclonal antibody V1C3), Tos-Arg-OMe esterase, and kinin-releasing activities can be measured in the conditioned media. The activated esterase activity was inhibited by aprotinin and by affinity-purified kallikrein monoclonal antibody (V4D11) in a dose-dependent manner. The data indicated that rat anterior pituitary GH3 cells secrete latent tissue kallikrein, which can be converted to active kallikrein by trypsin. These hormonally responsive cells co-synthesize kallikrein with prolactin and growth hormone and provide a model system for studying the regulation of kallikrein gene expression.     

The effect of hypophysectomy and growth hormone administration on pre-prosomatostatin messenger ribonucleic acid in the periventricular nucleus of the rat hypothalamus

Physiological evidence suggests that hypothalamic somatostatin (SS) inhibits pituitary GH release and that GH acts through a short-loop feedback mechanism to stimulate SS secretion. The feedback action of GH could be mediated by an effect on SS synthesis, secretion, or both. We hypothesized that GH acts to regulate the expression of the SS gene and that changes in the level of circulating GH would result in corresponding changes in SS mRNA in cells of the periventricular nucleus (PeN) of the hypothalamus. To test this hypothesis we measured the effect of hypophysectomy (HPX) and HPX with bovine GH (bGH) replacement on SS mRNA signal levels in cells of the PeN of the rat brain. We report that HPX male rats treated with bGH have significantly higher PeN SS mRNA signal than their vehicle-treated controls (P less than 0.05) and that bGH administration to sham-HPX rats results in elevated PeN SS mRNA signal levels compared to those in sham-HPX rats treated with vehicle (P less than 0.05). These observations suggest that GH participates in the regulation of its own secretion by influencing the expression of the SS gene and that one mechanism of short-loop pituitary feedback may involve the modulation of neuropeptide gene expression.     

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone stimulates growth hormone release from the anterior pituitary of hypothyroid rats in vitro

We have examined the interaction of thyroid hormone and TRH on GH release from rat pituitary monolayer cultures and perifused rat pituitary fragments. TRH (10(-9) and 10(-8)M) consistently stimulated the release of TSH and PRL, but not GH, in pituitary cell cultures of euthyroid male rats. Basal and TRH-stimulated TSH secretion were significantly increased in cells from thyroidectomized rats cultured in medium supplemented with hypothyroid serum, and a dose-related stimulation of GH release by 10(-9)-10(-8) M TRH was observed. The minimum duration of hypothyroidism required to demonstrate the onset of this GH stimulatory effect of TRH was 4 weeks, a period significantly longer than that required to cause intracellular GH depletion, decreased basal secretion of GH, elevated serum TSH, or increased basal secretion of TSH by cultured cells. In vivo T4 replacement of hypothyroid rats (20 micrograms/kg, ip, daily for 4 days) restored serum TSH, intracellular GH, and basal secretion of GH and TSH to normal levels, but suppressed only slightly the stimulatory effect of TRH on GH release. The GH response to TRH was maintained for up to 10 days of T4 replacement. In vitro addition of T3 (10(-6) M) during the 4-day primary culture period significantly stimulated basal GH release, but did not affect the GH response to TRH. A GH stimulatory effect of TRH was also demonstrated in cultured adenohypophyseal cells from rats rendered hypothyroid by oral administration of methimazole for 6 weeks. TRH stimulated GH secretion in perifused [3H]leucine-prelabeled anterior pituitary fragments from euthyroid rats. A 15-min pulse of 10(-8) M TRH stimulated the release of both immunoprecipitable [3H]rat GH and [3H]rat PRL. The GH release response was markedly enhanced in pituitary fragments from hypothyroid rats, and this enhanced response was significantly suppressed by T4 replacement for 4 days. The PRL response to TRH was enhanced to a lesser extent by thyroidectomy and was not affected by T4 replacement. These data suggest the existence of TRH receptors on somatotrophs which are suppressed by normal amounts of thyroid hormones and may provide an explanation for the TRH-stimulated GH secretion observed clinically in primary hypothyroidism.     

On the role of the peptide galanin in regulation of growth hormone secretion.

The effects of the peptide galanin on growth hormone secretion were studied in vitro using cultured rat and human anterior pituitary cells, and in vivo by iv administration of galanin in both rats and humans. Galanin in concentrations from 10 nmol/l to 1 mumol/l did not alter basal GH release, but slightly inhibited GHRH-stimulated GH release from cultured rat anterior pituitary cells. Galanin (1 mumol/l) did not significantly change basal or GHRH-stimulated GH secretion from cultured human anterior pituitary cells. In contrast, iv injection of 1 microgram (300 pmol) galanin to rats induced an increase in plasma GH that was reproducible at repetitive injections. The galanin-induced GH release in rats was of a lower magnitude than the increase in plasma GH after iv injections of GHRH, and was seen with a 5-15 min delay in comparison to iv administered GHRH. In man, iv infusions of galanin (40 pmol.kg-1.min-1.(40 min)) also caused a significant increase in plasma GH, but it occurred 25-30 min after the beginning of the infusion. These results suggest an indirect action of galanin on GH release in both rats and humans, i.e. galanin does not directly affect the somatotropes. In agreement with a central action, no binding sites for galanin could be demonstrated in the rat anterior pituitary by autoradiography. Since galanin did not affect somatostatin release from fragments of rat mediobasal hypothalamus, the stimulatory effects of galanin on GH release are most likely mediated via a stimulatory effect on GHRH neurons.     

Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide releases 7B2, adrenocorticotrophin, growth hormone and prolactin from the mouse and rat clonal pituitary cell lines AtT-20 and GH3.

Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) is a neuropeptide originally isolated from ovine hypothalami and so called because of its ability to stimulate pituitary adenylate cyclase activity. Alternative amidation and proteolytic processing of prepro-PACAP gives rise to two bioactive-amidated forms, PACAP-NH2(1-38) (PACAP-38) and PACAP-NH2(1-27) (PACAP-27). 7B2 is a polypeptide of 185 amino acids which is predominantly found in secretory granules and is widely distributed in rat and human tissues. We investigated the ability of the two forms of PACAP to stimulate GH, prolactin and 7B2 release by the rat pituitary clonal cell line GH3, and ACTH and 7B2 by the mouse pituitary clonal cell line AtT-20. PACAP-38 and PACAP-27 stimulated 7B2 and GH/prolactin or ACTH secretion with a similar efficacy over the 2-h incubation period from GH3 and AtT-20 cells respectively. 7B2 secretion was also stimulated by corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF-41) and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) in AtT-20 cells, and thyrotrophin-releasing hormone (TRH) and VIP in GH3 cells. Addition of PACAP to CRF-41 resulted in an additive effect on ACTH secretion and a synergistic effect on 7B2 secretion in AtT-20 cells. No synergism was observed when PACAP was added together with TRH, either on GH and prolactin secretion or on 7B2 release from GH3 cells. PACAP-mediated 7B2 secretion from both cell lines and PACAP-stimulated ACTH release from AtT-20 cells were reduced by 5 mg octapeptide synthetic somatostatin analogue/l (5 mg SMS 201-995/l).     

Insulin regulation of rat growth hormone gene expression

Insulin has been shown previously to inhibit basal and glucocorticoid- or T3-stimulated rat GH (rGH) synthesis, secretion, and mRNA levels in cultured rat pituitary tumor cells (GH3 cells) or pituitaries. The effects of insulin on rGH gene expression in GH3 cells were examined in greater detail in the current studies. Cells were deinduced for 5 days in medium devoid of steroids, T3, and insulin. Cells were then treated for 48 h with insulin (5 X 10(-9) M), dexamethasone (Dex; 10(-6) M), T3 (10(-8) M), insulin plus Dex, or insulin plus T3. When media and hormones were not replaced daily the results were similar to those obtained previously. Insulin decreased both basal and glucocorticoid-stimulated rGH mRNA levels to approximately 70% of control levels, as measured by cytoplasmic dot hybridization. By contrast, when media and hormones were replaced daily, rGH mRNA levels increased by 1.5 to 7-fold in response to insulin in the absence or presence of Dex or T3, measured by both cytoplasmic dot hybridization and RNA (Northern) blotting. Dex increased rGH mRNA levels under both sets of conditions, verifying the specific nature of the insulin influence. Maximum rGH gene expression was achieved after a 48-h exposure to insulin. The observed insulin effects were probably mediated through insulin rather than insulin-like growth factor I or II receptors, since the concentration of insulin employed was near the Kd of the hormone for its receptor measured in the same cells. These results suggest that insulin is capable of regulating rGH gene expression. The action of insulin can be either positive or negative and is influenced by the metabolic state of the cell.