Abstract
WE have demonstrated that L-triiodothyronine (T3) stimulates growth hormone synthesis three to four-fold1–3 and inhibits prolactin secretion1 in cultured GH1 cells, which constitute a rat pituitary cell line. Others have shown that cortisol also stimulates growth hormone production in GH1 cells4. In GH3 cells, a closely related cell line, cortisol stimulates growth hormone production four- to eightfold and inhibits prolactin secretion approximately fourfold5. Thus, thyroid and glucocorticoid hormones seem to control similar growth hormone and prolactin responses in GH1 and GH3 cells. Studies of the effects of glucocorticoids in these cell lines4,5, however, have used commercial serum preparations containing physiological concentrations of thyroid hormone6. To examine the intrinsic response of these cells to glucocorticoid, therefore, it is necessary to use medium supplemented with serum which contains very low thyroid hormone levels. Using culture medium supplemented with hypothyroid calf serum, we have examined the influence of T3 and cortisol on the induction of growth hormone synthesis in GH1 cells. We report here that in the absence of T3, the cells seem unresponsive to glucocorticoids, whereas in its presence cortisol markedly enhanced growth hormone production. The apparent requirement of T3 for expression of the cortisol response seems independent of any influence of T3 on total cell steroid receptor levels or the nuclear-cytoplasmic distribution of the steroid receptor, and of any effect of cortisol in modulating the level of the T3 nuclear receptor.
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SAMUELS, H., HORWITZ, Z., STANLEY, F. et al. Thyroid hormone controls glucocorticoid action in cultured GH1 cells. Nature 268, 254–257 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/268254a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/268254a0
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