Inhibitory effects of corticosterone on cell proliferation and steroidogenesis in the mouse adrenal tumor cell line Y-1.

Monolayer cultures of mouse adrenal tumor cell line Y-1 have been used to investigate the effects of glucocorticoid on cell replication, [3H]thymidine incorporation into the trichloroacetic acid-precipitated cell fraction, steroidogenesis, and the ACTH receptors of adrenocortical cells. Corticosterone at a concentration of 5.0--50 micrograms/ml inhibited cell replication and [3H]thymidine incorporation into trichloroacetic acid-precipitated cell fraction in a dose-related manner. Corticosterone at a concentration of 0.5--50 micrograms/ml inhibited ACTH-induced steroidogenesis in a dose-related manner. Steroids which do not possess glucocorticoid action did not show such inhibitory effects on cell replication and steroidogenesis of Y-1 cells. The characteristics of the ACTH receptors of these cells remained unaffected by corticosterone. Our findings suggest that synthesized or secreted glucocorticoid may play an important role in the direct regulation of proliferation and function of adrenocortical cells under physiological conditions.