The influence of adrenoceptor activity on cell proliferation in colonic crypt ipithelium and in colonic adenocarcinomata.

The effects of chemical sympathectomy and of the injection of amines or amine-receptor blocking drugs on cell proliferation in colonic crypts and in dimethylhydrazine-induced colonic carcinomata is examined in rats using a stathmokinetic technique. In animals which had been chemically sympathectomized by injection of 6-hydroxydopamine cell proliferation essentially ceased in the colonic crypts but continued at a normal rate in the tumours. Stimulation of alpha-adrenoceptors by metaraminol, a drug with properties similar to noradrenaline, caused acceleration of cell proliferation in colonic crypts but not in tumours. Conversely, blockade of alpha-adrenoceptors by phentolamine inhibited cell proliferation in crypts but not in tumours. Injection of adrenaline, predominantly a beta-adrenergic agonist, inhibited cell proliferation in the tumours but not in colonic crypts whereas blockade of beta-adrenoceptors by propranolol accelerated cell proliferation in tumours but not in colonic crypts. It is postulated that cell proliferation in the crypts of Lieberkühn in rat colon resembles that in rat jejunum in being controlled by the autonomic nervous system. However, tumour cell proliferation does not appear to be subject to such regulation.