Endotoxin-induced release of interleukin-6 from rat medial basal hypothalami.

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is an inflammatory cytokine that stimulates T-cell activation and B-cell differentiation. We recently reported that picomolar concentrations of IL-6 stimulated PRL, GH, and LH release in vitro. These data suggested that IL-6 may function as a hypothalamic releasing factor for anterior pituitary hormones. Medial basal hypothalami (MBH) were incubated for 60-90 min in Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate buffer supplemented with 0.025% BSA, and the conditioned medium was assayed for IL-6 concentrations by the 7TD1 cell growth factor assay. It was found that MBH released IL-6 in vitro. Although depolarizing concentrations of K+ (56 mM) did not increase IL-6 release, somatostatin release from the MBH was increased significantly. The bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 1-100 ng/ml) induced significant increases in IL-6 release from the MBH. The presence of IL-6 in the hypothalamus suggested a possible role for this cytokine in the regulation of neuropeptide release; however, the release of somatostatin was not affected by 20 ng/ml IL-6. Comparison studies of neural and neuroendocrine tissues revealed that the anterior and posterior pituitaries released larger amounts of bioactive IL-6 than the MBH or parietal cortex during a 4-h incubation; induction of IL-6 release by endotoxin occurred only in the anterior pituitary and hypothalamus. IL-6 mRNA was detectable in the MBH and anterior pituitary tissue after a 4-h incubation; however, no IL-6 mRNA was detectable in freshly isolated tissues. LPS (100 ng/ml) and (Bu)2cAMP (1 mM) increased IL-6 mRNA accumulation in and IL-6 release from the MBH and anterior pituitary. These data suggest that the MBH synthesizes and releases IL-6 via a nonneuronal source in vitro.