Characteristics of the interaction between thyrotropin-releasing hormone and somatostatin for thyrotropin and prolactin release.

Somatostatin, at concentrations up to 10(-7) M, does not inhibit the basal release of TSH from primary cultures of rat anterior pituitary cells. The TRH-induced TSH release is however 65% reduced by somatostatin, half-maximal inhibition being measured at 2.5 x 10(-10) M somatostatin. The concentration of TRH giving half-maximal stimulation (ED50) of TSH release is only slightly increased from 1 to 3 x 10(-9) M in the presence of 10(-8) M somatostatin. Somatostatin inhibits by 45-65% both the basal and TRH-induced PRL release of pituitary cells prepared from adult female rats, with half-maximal inhibition at approximately 5 x 10(-10) M somatostatin. The TRH ED50 for PRL release was not significantly affected by somatostatin. Somatostatin (200 mug) has no effect on the basal plasma levels of TSH or PRL in anesthetized male rats treated with estradiol benzoate (EB), hypothyroid rats, or hypothyroid animals treated with EB. The plasma TSH response to TRH is, however, reduced by approximately 75% by somatostatin while the plasma PRL response is not affected by injection of the peptide. The interaction between TRH and somatostatin for both TSH and PRL release is non-competitive and is thus likely to occur at a step subsequent to the binding of the peptides to their specific receptors in both thyrotrophs and mammotrophs.