A patient with a prolactinoma associated with an aldosterone producing adrenal adenoma: differences in dopaminergic regulation of PRL and aldosterone secretion.

A patient with a rare combination of prolactinoma and aldosterone producing adrenal adenoma (APA) was reported in relation to studies concerning dopaminergic regulation of PRL and aldosterone secretion. The patient is a 38-year-old female with plasma PRL and aldosterone concentrations (PAC) of 563 ng/ml and 54 ng/dl, respectively. A bolus of 10 mg of metoclopramide significantly increased plasma PRL in 6 normal subjects and in 4 patients with APA, whereas the responses were blunted in 7 patients with prolactinoma and in our patient. The response of aldosterone to metoclopramide was less than that of PRL, but similar in all studied subjects, indicating that the dopaminergic inhibition of aldosterone secretion is less than that of PRL in normal subjects and did not change in patients with APA or prolactinoma. Oral administration of 2.5 mg of bromocriptine suppressed plasma PRL significantly in all the subjects studied, but did not produce any consistent changes in PAC. Discrepancies in the response of PRL and aldosterone to metoclopramide and to bromocriptine suggest a difference in the dopaminergic regulation of PRL and aldosterone secretion in both normal subjects and patients with prolactinoma and APA. It is unlikely that reduced dopaminergic inhibition is the basis for hypersecretion of PRL and aldosterone in our patient.