Neurophysin stimulates prolactin release from primary cultured rat pituitary cells.

The neurohypophysial hormones, oxytocin and vasopressin, are present as non-covalently bound complexes with their designated neurophysin in the secretory granules of the posterior pituitary. The neurophysins are generally considered to be biologically inert carrier proteins for oxytocin and vasopressin. We have examined the actions of bovine neurophysin-I (bNP-I), bovine neurophysin-II (bNP-II), rat neurophysin (rat NP) and oxytocin on prolactin release using primary cultured rat pituitary cells. A dynamic perifusion system was chosen to test their stimulatory actions. The rat NP and bNP-II stimulated prolactin release. It is a new observation that rat NP and bNP-II stimulate prolactin release from primary cultured rat pituitary cells. The maximum sensitivities, the lowest concentration which stimulate prolactin release, of rat NP, bNP-II, bNP-I and oxytocin in primary cultured cells were 1 nmol/1, 1 nmol/l, 1000 nmol/1 and 1 nmol/1 respectively. The maximum sensitivities of rat NP and bNP-II were within the physiologically relevant concentrations.

Phenoxybenzamine selectively and irreversibly inactivates dopaminergic D2 receptors on primary cultured rat lactotrophs.

Lactotrophs have several different kinds of receptors, such as dopaminergic D2, somatostatin, angiotensin II and thyrotropin-releasing hormone receptors, which stimulate or inhibit prolactin release. We have studied the specificity of phenoxybenzamine on receptors in lactotrophs. Phenoxybenzamine is a beta-haloalkylamine which alkylates chemically active radicals such as hydroxy, sulfhydryl, and amino groups. This alkylation is an irreversible chemical reaction in contrast to the receptor-secretagogue complex which is present in a state of dynamic equilibrium. Primary cultured rat adenohypophyseal cells were used in this study. A dose-response relationship was examined between concentrations of phenoxybenzamine pretreatment and prolactin release using a monolayer cell culture system. The inhibitory action of dopamine (10 mumol/l) on the control group (13.0 +/- 0.1 ng/ml or 86% inhibition relative to the control) was significantly higher than on the 0.1-mumol/l phenoxybenzamine-pretreated group (39.0 +/- 0.2 ng/ml or 58% inhibition relative to the control), but the stimulatory effect of thyrotropin-releasing hormone on prolactin release was not significantly affected up to a 10-mumol/l phenoxybenzamine pretreatment as compared with the control group. We thus selected a phenoxybenzamine concentration of 0.1 mumol/l for the next series of perifusion experiments in order to examine dynamic changes in prolactin release. The basal prolactin release was decreased to almost half by phenoxybenzamine pretreatment. The inhibitory action of dopamine (0.1 mumol/l containing 0.1 mmol/l ascorbic acid) was significantly less in the phenoxybenzamine-pretreated group (68% of the basal prolactin concentration) than in the control group (31% of the basal concentration).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

High concentrations of dopamine and epinephrine protect dopaminergic D2 receptors from inactivation by phenoxybenzamine on primary cultured rat lactotrophs.

The effect of a high concentration of catecholamines on phenoxybenzamine pretreatment was examined. The efficacy of the pretreatments was monitored by testing the inhibitory action of dopamine on prolactin release. Phenoxybenzamine is a beta-haloalkylamine which alkylates and irreversibly inactivates adrenergic alpha-receptors in smooth muscle. Dopaminergic D2 receptors share several common characteristics with the alpha-receptors. Primary cultured male rat pituitary cells were used. After phenoxybenzamine (0.1 mumol/l) pretreatment, the inhibitory action of dopamine on prolactin release was significantly reduced in a perifusion system. When the cells were pretreated with phenoxybenzamine in medium containing 0.1 or 1 mmol/l dopamine, the 0.1-mmol/l dopamine did not change the effect of phenoxybenzamine on inactivation of the receptors, but the 1-mmol/l dopamine eliminated the effect of phenoxybenzamine pretreatment. These observations were confirmed with a static monolayer culture system. The observations illustrate that a high concentration of dopamine forms a D2 receptor-dopamine complex and protects the D2 from inactivation by phenoxybenzamine. When the cells were pretreated with 0.1 mumol/l phenoxybenzamine in a medium containing 1 mmol/l epinephrine, the effect of the phenoxybenzamine was also eliminated, suggesting that a sufficient amount of D2 receptor-epinephrine complex was formed to protect the receptor from inactivation. The hormone release in response to a secretagogue depends on its affinity and intrinsic activity. It is, therefore, suggested that the intrinsic activity of epinephrine is much lower than that of dopamine on prolactin release, since the D2 receptor-epinephrine complex is as stable as the D2 receptor-dopamine complex, and the inhibitory action of epinephrine on prolactin release is less than 10% of that of dopamine.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Somatostatin partially impedes the stimulatory effects of thyrotrophin-releasing hormone and dibutyryl cyclic AMP on prolactin release: prolactin release through multiple routes.

Patterns of prolactin release were examined using stimulating and inhibiting agents. Primary cultured pituitary cells primed with oestrogens were used for perifusion experiments. TRH (100 nmol/l) increased the peak prolactin concentration to 360% of the basal concentration, while TRH, under inhibition by 1 nmol somatostatin/l, raised the peak prolactin concentration to 185% of the basal levels. When the somatostatin concentration was increased to 10, 100 and 1000 nmol/l, TRH still stimulated prolactin release to 128%, 121% and 140% respectively, indicating that concentrations of somatostatin of 10 nmol/l or higher did not further suppress the stimulatory effect of TRH. TRH (1 mumol/l) stimulated prolactin release under the influence of 0 (control), 1, 10, 100 and 1000 nmol dopamine/l (plus 0.1 mmol ascorbic acid/l) to 394, 394, 241, 73 and 68% of the basal concentration respectively, showing that the dopamine concentrations and peak prolactin concentrations induced by TRH have an inverse linear relationship in the range 1-100 nmol dopamine/l. The stimulatory effect of dibutyryl cyclic AMP (dbcAMP) on prolactin release was also tested. The relationship between dbcAMP and somatostatin was similar to that between TRH and somatostatin. When adenohypophyses of male rats were used for perifusion experiments, somatostatin (100 nmol/l) did not inhibit basal prolactin release from the fresh male pituitary in contrast with the primary cultured pituitary cells, but dopamine (1 mumol/l) effectively inhibited prolactin release. In conclusion, (1) oestrogen converts the somatostatin-insensitive route into a somatostatin-sensitive route for basal prolactin release, (2) TRH-induced prolactin release passes through both somatostatin-sensitive and -insensitive routes, (3) dopamine blocks both somatostatin-sensitive and -insensitive routes and (4) cAMP activates both somatostatin-sensitive and -insensitive routes.