Interleukin 1 prevents loss of corticotropic responsiveness to beta-adrenergic stimulation in vitro.

Corticotropin (ACTH) secretion by the anterior pituitary is stimulated by catecholamines in vivo and in vitro. The nature of the response in vivo is controversial but appears to be mediated by beta-adrenergic receptors, whereas the response is dependent on alpha-adrenergic receptors in cultured anterior pituitary cells. In the present studies, by using a superfusion technique, we demonstrate that catecholamine stimulation of ACTH release from rat anterior pituitaries changes with time from a predominantly beta-adrenergic-mediated event to a predominantly alpha-adrenergic-mediated event. From 0 to 2 hr after initiating the superfusion, release of ACTH from anterior pituitary glands is stimulated up to 2.4-fold by the beta-adrenergic agonist l-isoproterenol. However, the ACTH secretory response to the alpha-adrenergic agonist l-phenylephrine is less than or equal to 5% of that to l-isoproterenol during the same time period. Beginning 2 hr after the start of the superfusion, the responsiveness to the beta-adrenergic agonist declines, and the response to the alpha-adrenergic agonist increases until, 10 hr after removal, greater than 95% of the catecholamine-inducible ACTH release is mediated by an alpha-adrenergic pathway. The addition of interleukin 1 alone to the medium from the beginning of the superfusion does not modify basal ACTH secretion rates and does not affect the acquisition of the response to phenylephrine. However, the presence of interleukin 1 does allow the maintenance of the full ACTH secretory response to isoproterenol. This effect of interleukin 1 is reversed by an interleukin 1 antagonist. These observations suggest an additional way in which immune regulators might interact with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.