Regulation of rat adrenal dopamine beta-hydroxylase. II. Receptor interaction in the regulation of enzyme synthesis and degradation.

Rat adrenal gland dopamine beta-hydroxylase is under neuronal regulation from the splanchnic nerve and hormonal control via adrenal cortical glucocorticoids. The regulatory systems act in different ways; neuronal stimuli induce dopamine beta-hydroxylase synthesis while hormonal stimulation inhibits enzyme degradation. Despite these mechanistic differences, both systems require a normally innervated cholinergic receptor to exert their effect. The enzyme response to either neural stimulation or ACTH administration is blocked by splanchnic denervation. Glucocorticoid stimulation of dopamine beta-hydroxylase, however, can occur after adrenal denervation, suggesting that ACTH acts on a receptor which requires splanchnic innervation, but glucocorticoids act distal to the receptor. Similar results were obtained when the effect of these manipulations were studied on phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase, another enzyme in the catecholamine biosynthetic pathway. A model attempting to unify these and earlier findings is presented, in which the splanchnic nerve is involved in regulating both adrenal cortical glucocorticoidogenesis (by allowing ACTH to act on glucocorticoid synthesis) and adrenal medullary catecholamine biosynthesis (by induction of enzyme synthesis.).