Primary Tissue Culture of Normal Adult Human Decapsulated Adrenal Cortex: Radioautographic Studies on the Metabolic Effects of ACTH_1-2₄

Abstract

ACTH-deprived primary normal adult human adrenocortical cells on the 23rd day in vitro were found to lack any DNA synthetic and proliferative activity, but incorporated uridine-³H and l-leucine-³H actively. In cortical cells of the same age treated for 2 and 7 days with ACTH_1-24 (3 X 10^-6M) the incorporation of the precursors for RNA and DNA synthesis and the cell proliferation were found to be markedly stimulated. The apparent uptake of leucine-³H was instead reduced in 2-day and, less still, in 7-day treated cells. In parallel with ultrastructural studies, these data suggest that ACTH orderly activates the template activity of chromatin while eliciting the differentiation and hypertrophy of human adrenocortical cells.

The Role of the ACTH Receptor in Adrenal Tumors: Identification of a Novel Microsatellite Marker

“…The same effects could be shown in primary bovine and human adrenal cell cultures [12 ± 14]. However, there were also contradictory results ± Armato et al observed an increase in DNA synthesis in human adrenocortical primary cultures [15] and an increased shift of these cells into the S and M phases of the cell cycle, resulting in enhanced proliferation [16]. Because all experiments at that time had been performed in the presence of fetal calf serum, Menapace et al investigated the effects of ACTH 1-24 on rabbit adrenocortical primary cells in a synthetic medium and found a stimulatory effect on DNA synthesis and cell proliferation [17].…”