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Endocrinology Vol. 139, No. 7 3220-3226
Copyright © 1998 by The Endocrine Society


ARTICLES

Glucocorticoids Increase Vasopressin V1b Receptor Coupling to Phospholipase C

Cristina Rabadan-Diehl and Greti Aguilera

Section on Endocrine Physiology, Developmental Endocrinology Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Cristina Rabadan-Diehl, Section on Endocrine Physiology, Developmental Endocrinology Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Building 10, Room 10N262, 10 Center Drive MSC 1862, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-1862. E-mail: rabadanc{at}cc1.nichd.nih.gov


    Abstract
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Vasopressin (VP) stimulates pituitary ACTH secretion after binding to V1b VP receptors (V1b-R) coupled to phospholipase C (PLC). This effect of VP on ACTH secretion, unlike that of CRH, is resistant to glucocorticoid feedback. To determine whether changes in V1b-R expression or signaling mediate the refractoriness to glucocorticoids, the effects of glucocorticoids on pituitary VP binding, V1b-R messenger RNA (mRNA) and VP-stimulated inositol phosphate (IP) formation were studied in vivo and in vitro in the rat. Dexamethasone injection for 7 days decreased VP binding but increased V1b-R mRNA, indicating that mRNA levels do not reflect receptor number. In spite of the binding loss, VP-stimulated IP formation was enhanced in dexamethasone-treated rats, suggesting that glucocorticoids increase the coupling efficiency of the V1b receptor to phospholipase C. Pretreatment of pituitary cells in vitro with dexamethasone or corticosterone, also potentiated IP formation by low and high doses of VP, indicating that glucocorticoids act directly in the pituitary and not through changes in hypothalamic factors. The effect is mediated by glucocorticoid receptors because it was blocked by glucocorticoid but not mineralocorticoid antagonists. Dexamethasone potentiated the stimulation of IP by other PLC-dependent ligands (GnRH, TRH) but not that by the calcium ionophore, ionomycin, suggesting a site of action between the receptor and PLC. After treatment with dexamethasone, in vivo or in vitro, Western blot analysis revealed marked increases in the GTP binding protein, G{alpha}q, which may account for the potentiating effect of glucocorticoid on ligand-stimulated IP. The data demonstrate that glucocorticoids increase coupling of the V1b-R with PLC thereby providing a mechanism by which VP facilitates corticotroph responsiveness in spite of elevated levels of plasma glucocorticoids during stress.


    Introduction
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
VASOPRESSIN (VP) is an important neuropeptide involved in water conservation, blood pressure and pituitary ACTH hormone secretion (1, 2, 3, 4). Increases in pituitary ACTH secretion during activation of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis are accompanied by elevated synthesis of VP in parvicellular neurons of the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus (4, 5, 6). VP colocalizes with CRH in 50% of the CRH-containing neurons and is released into the pituitary portal circulation from axons in the external zone of the median eminence (7).

The actions of VP are mediated by membrane receptors belonging to the G protein-coupled membrane receptor superfamily (8). So far, three major receptor subtypes have been identified, kidney V2 receptors, which are linked to the guanyl nucleotide binding protein, Gs, and adenylyl cyclase; V1a receptors, coupled to phospholipase C (PLC), present in liver and vascular smooth muscle, and the pituitary V1b-R, also linked to PLC (8, 9, 10). It is known that the GTP-binding protein, Gq, is responsible for coupling V1a receptors (11, 12), and presumably V1b receptors, to PLC.

Evidence indicates that VP plays a primary role in the regulation of the HPA axis during adaptation to stress (5). In a number of chronic stress paradigms, the expression of VP in parvicellular neurons of the PVN, and VP secretion into the pituitary portal circulation, increases (5, 6, 13, 14). Stress also up-regulates the number of VP receptors in the anterior pituitary, increasing the ACTH-releasing activity of the peptide (15). In addition, in vitro studies have shown that activation of ACTH secretion by VP is less sensitive to feedback inhibition by glucocorticoids than that to CRH (16, 17). Because glucocorticoid administration results in pituitary VP receptor loss (18, 19), it is possible that VP receptor activity is regulated at the postreceptor level.

The purpose of these studies was to further investigate the effect of glucocorticoids on V1b-R regulation, and to determine whether glucocorticoids can influence V1b-R signaling. VP binding, V1b-R messenger RNA (mRNA), and VP-stimulated IP formation were measured after long-term glucocorticoid administration in vivo and in vitro. The results demonstrate that prolonged exposure to glucocorticoids decreases the number of pituitary VP receptors while increasing their coupling efficiency. This potentiation was shown to be independent of hypothalamic factors and to be due in part to an increase in the guanyl nucleotide binding protein, Gq.


    Materials and Methods
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Animals and in vivo procedures
Male Sprague-Dawley rats (280–300 g) were purchased from Taconic Farms and maintained in a controlled environment (14-h light, 10-h dark) with free access to water and food. After a 3- to 7-day stabilization period, animals received a single daily sc injection of 100 µg of dexamethasone in peanut oil or vehicle for 7 days. Twenty-four hours after the last injection, animals were killed by decapitation, pituitaries removed, and the anterior lobe collected in medium 199, ice-cold PBS, or frozen in dry ice as appropriate. Anterior pituitaries from additional groups of nontreated rats were collected in medium 199 and used for pituitary cell preparations. All animal procedures were approved by the NICHD Animal Care and Users Committee.

Anterior pituitary cultures
Anterior pituitaries were collected in medium 199, cells dispersed by trypsin digestion as previously described (20), and plated into 24-well plates at a density of 500,000 cells/well for IP determination or in 75-mm2 flasks at 10 million cells/flask for Western blot. Cells were cultured in medium 199 with Earle’s salts supplemented with 10% horse serum for 48 h and then changed to medium 199 containing 0.1% BSA with or without glucocorticoids for 7 days. Medium was changed every 2 days.

Quantitation of V1b-R mRNA
V1b-R mRNA was measured by Northern blot analysis as previously described (21), using a 32P-labeled random primed 363-bp complementary DNA probe, extending from outside of the third trans-membrane domain into the third cytoplasmic loop of the rat V1b-R. Radioactivity hybridized to the 3.7- and 3.2-kb bands corresponding to the V1b-R mRNA was measured using a Fuji bioimaging analyzer and expressed in arbitrary units, which are directly proportional to the radiation dose. Values of the V1b-R bands were normalized per 100 Fuji units of cyclophilin, measured in the same hybridization (21).

Inositol phosphates determination
In the experiments where dexamethasone was administered in vivo, quartered hemipituitaries were incubated with 30 µCi of myo-[3H]inositol (100 Ci/mmol, Amersham, Arlington Heights, IL) in 250 µl of medium 199 without inositol for 3 h, at 37 C, under 95% O2/5% CO2. After washing in medium 199 containing 0.1% BSA and 10 mM LiCl, followed by 10-min preincubation, paired hemipituitary quarters were incubated with and without 100 nM arginine-VP (Sigma, St. Louis, MO) for 15 min. Incubations were terminated by addition of 250 µl of stop solution (1 M KOH, 18 mM sodium tetraborate, 3.8 mM EDTA, 7.6 mM NaOH), neutralized with 7.5% HCl. Total IP were extracted and separated by anion exchange chromatography using Dowex columns as previously described (15, 22) (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA).

For in vitro experiments, anterior pituitary cells cultured in 24-well plates were labeled with 2.5 µCi/ml of myo-[3H]inositol/well for 48 h, washed with media containing 0.1% BSA and 10 mM LiCl, and then incubated for 15 min under the conditions indicated in results and figure legends. Incubations were stopped by addition of one volume of cold stop solution followed by neutralization with 7.5% HCl. After anion exchange chromatography, total IP were measured in a liquid scintillation counter.

Measurement of VP receptors
VP receptors were measured by binding of [H3]-VP to 30,000 x g membrane fractions prepared from pools of five pituitaries as previously described (15). Binding affinity and receptor concentration were calculated by Scatchard analysis using the computer program Ligand (23) (NIMH, NIH).

Quantitation of Gq immunoreactivity
Single pituitaries from control and dexamethasone-treated rats, or cultured anterior pituitary cells treated with dexamethasone, were homogenized in 3 ml of 20 mM NaHC03 containing 5 mM EDTA and centrifuged for 30 min at 48,000 x g at 4 C. Pellets were lysed in 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.4, containing 5 mM MgCl2, 2 mM EGTA, 1% Triton X-100, 0.1 mM PMSF, 100 KIU/ml aprotinin, and 1 mM DTT for 90 min at 4 C in a shaking bath. After centrifugation at 14,000 rpm for 30 min, protein content was determined using Bio-Rad protein assay reagent (Richmond, CA), and 50 µg of protein were separated by electrophoresis on a 12% polyacrylamide gel. The content of Gq was determined by Western blot analysis using a polyclonal antibody directed to the carboxyl terminus of G{alpha}q/{alpha}11 (24) at a 1:350 dilution, and an enhanced chemiluminescence detection system (Amersham). To confirm the data obtained with the later antibody, additional experiments were performed using an affinity purified antibody, specific anti-G{alpha}q raised against amino acids 115 to 133 of the protein (Calbiochem, San Diego, CA). After exposure to film, light transmittance of the 42-kDa band corresponding to Gq was quantitated using a computerized image analysis system (Imaging Research, St Catherine, Ontario, Canada).

Statistical analysis
Data are presented as the mean and SE of the values in the number of experiments indicated in Results or in the figure legends, or expressed as percent change from basal or nondexamethasone-treated controls. Experiments in primary pituitary cell cultures were performed in duplicate or triplicate incubations, each in a different cell preparation. Statistical significance of the differences between experimental groups was determined by ANOVA followed by the Fisher test for multiple group comparisons.


    Results
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Effect of dexamethasone in vivo
Treatment of rats with dexamethasone for 7 days significantly decreased the binding of [3H]VP to pituitary membranes from 183 ± 2.6 fmol/mg in controls to 140 ± 14.2 fmol/mg in dexamethasone-treated rats (P < 0.01, n = 5). Scatchard analysis of the data showed no difference in receptor affinity in both groups (Fig. 1Go, top).



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Figure 1. Effect of injection of dexamethasone, 100 µg, sc, on pituitary VP binding (top), V1b-R mRNA (middle) and VP-stimulated total inositol phosphate (IP) formation (bottom). Bars are the mean and SE of the values obtained in the number of experiments shown inside the bars. VP receptors number and affinity were determined by Scatchard analysis, V1b receptor mRNA by Northern blot, and total IP formation by anion exchange chromatography as described in Materials and Methods. *, P < 0.01 vs. control; #, P < 0.05 vs. controls.

 
To determine whether decreased mRNA levels are responsible for the loss of binding induced by glucocorticoids, V1b-R mRNA levels were measured in pituitaries from control and dexamethasone injected rats. In both groups of rats, Northern blot analysis of poly [A] RNA showed two bands of 3.7 and 3.2 kb, corresponding to the two recognized species V1b-R mRNA (9, 21). In contrast to the changes in VP binding, dexamethasone treatment for 7 days increased the levels of both V1b-R mRNA species (16.1 ± 0.8 to 24.4 ± 2.5 arbitrary units for the 3.7-kb band, and 9.1 ± 0.3 to 13.9 ± 1.2 for the 3.2-kb band) (Fig. 1Go, middle).

To investigate whether the decrease in VP binding was associated with changes in biological response to VP, the ability of VP to stimulate IP formation was studied in quartered hemipituitaries of rats that had received chronic dexamethasone injections. In spite of the decrease in VP binding in dexamethasone-treated rats, VP-stimulated IP formation was 33% higher than in control rats (n = 11, P < 0.001) (Fig. 1Go, bottom).

Effects of glucocorticoids in vitro
To determine whether glucocorticoids regulate the coupling of the V1b receptor directly in the pituitary, or indirectly through inhibition of hypothalamic CRH and VP, the effect of glucocorticoids on inositol phosphate formation was studied in anterior pituitary cells in vitro. Preincubation of cultured anterior pituitary cells for 7 days with dexamethasone or the natural glucocorticoid, corticosterone, had no significant effect on basal IP formation, but potentiated VP-stimulated IP formation (Table 1Go). This effect was maximal with the lowest concentration of steroid used. The potentiation of VP-stimulated inositol phosphate formation was mediated by glucocorticoid receptors, as shown by the ability of the glucocorticoid antagonist, RU 40555, but not the mineralocorticoid antagonist, spironolactone, to prevent the effect of corticosterone (Table 1Go).


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Table 1. Dose response of the potentiation of VP-stimulated inositol phosphate formation by glucocorticoids in cultured anterior pituitary cells

 
The time course of the effect of dexamethasone preincubation on VP-stimulated IP formation is shown in Fig. 2Go. Basal IP formation was not affected by dexamethasone preincubation at any time point. Twenty-four or 48 h preincubation with dexamethasone caused a small but significant potentiation of VP-stimulated IP formation (35 ± 9.2%, P < 0.01, and 41 ± 18%, P < 0.05), over the values in VP-stimulated control cells, respectively). Higher potentiation of 82 ± 31.3%, P < 0.01), and 89 ± 19.3%, P < 0.01, over the VP-stimulated values in control cells was observed in cells preincubated with dexamethasone for 4 or 7 days, respectively.



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Figure 2. Time course of the effect of 10 mM dexamethasone on basal and VP-stimulated total IP formation. Bars are the mean and SE of the values in the number of experiments indicated in parentheses, expressed as percent of the values in nondexamethasone-pretreated cells. Basal values were 5,001 ± 2,829 cpm/well. *, P < 0.05; ** P < 0.01 vs. nondexamethasone pretreatment.

 
The dose response for vasopressin on IP formation in control or dexamethasone-pretreated cells is shown in Fig. 3Go. Seven days preincubation of cultured anterior pituitary cells with 10 nM dexamethasone potentiated the stimulatory effect of VP on IP formation over the entire dose response. In two experiments, dexamethasone preincubation enhanced IP stimulation by the lower concentration of VP by 28%, (P < 0.05). A more marked potentiation of about 100% was observed with maximal stimulatory concentrations of VP. Dexamethasone preincubation did not change the half maximal concentration (ED50) of VP for stimulation of IP formation (ED50 1.6 ± 0.3 and 1.5 ± 0.2 nM, with and without dexamethasone, respectively).



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Figure 3. Dose response of the effect of VP on total IP formation stimulation in cultured anterior pituitary cells preincubated with or without dexamethasone, 10 nM, for 7 days. Data points are the mean and SE of triplicate incubations in a representative experiment. *, P < 0.05 vs. control.

 
The potentiating effect of glucocorticoids on IP formation was not unique for VP because the stimulatory effect of other PLC-coupled hormones such as TRH and GnRH were also enhanced by pretreatment of pituitary cell cultures with dexamethasone (Table 2Go). Because VP is known to interact with the oxytocin receptor (25), and oxytocin receptors are present in lactotrophs (26) and gonadotrophs (27), it was important to determine whether the effect of VP reflects V1b-R in the corticotroph or interactions with oxytocin receptors. The oxytocin antagonist, L-368,899 (Merck Research Laboratories, West Point, PA), completely prevented the stimulatory effect of oxytocin on IP formation in Chinese hamster ovary cells transfected with the oxytocin receptor but not the stimulation by VP in AtT-20 cells transfected with the V1b receptor (not shown). In primary pituitary cells, oxytocin had only a minor stimulatory effect on IP formation to values not statistically significantly different from basal. IP formation increased about 5-fold after incubation with 100 nM VP, and this effect was not significantly reduced by the oxytocin antagonist. The potentiating effect of dexamethasone on VP-stimulated IP formation was unaffected by the oxytocin antagonist (Table 3Go).


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Table 2. Effect of 7-day pretreatment with dexamethasone (10 nM) on IP formation following 15-min incubation with VP, TRH, or GnRH

 

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Table 3. Receptor specificity of VP-stimulation of IP in cultured anterior pituitary cells

 
Mechanism of glucocorticoid potentiation of IP formation
The potentiating effect of dexamethasone pretreatment on VP-stimulated IP formation was independent of calcium in the medium during exposure of the cells to VP. As shown in Fig. 4Go, increasing calcium from 0 to 1.5 mM or adding 0.1 mM EGTA during incubation with VP, had no effect on basal VP-stimulated IP formation, or on the ability of dexamethasone preincubation to potentiate the stimulatory effect.



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Figure 4. Effect of calcium on the potentiating effect of 10 nM dexamethasone on VP-stimulated total IP formation. Anterior pituitary cells were preincubated with dexamethasone for 7 days and then incubated with and without 100 nM VP for 15 min in presence of the calcium concentrations indicated in the figure. Bars represent the mean and SE of triplicate incubations. *, P < 0.01 vs. basal; #, P < 0.01 vs. corresponding VP-stimulated control.

 
To study the possibility that glucocorticoids potentiate ligand-stimulated IP formation at the level of phospholipase C, the effect of the calcium ionophore, ionomycin, was evaluated in control and dexamethasone-pretreated cells. Consistent with the data in Fig. 2Go, VP-stimulated IP formation was potentiated by 28%, P < 0.01, and 82%, P < 0.01, in cells preincubated with 10 nM dexamethasone for 24 h or 7 days, respectively. In contrast to VP, the stimulatory effect of ionomycin was reduced by 20%, P < 0.05, after 24 h preincubation with dexamethasone, and was similar to control cells after 7 days dexamethasone pretreatment (Fig. 5Go).



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Figure 5. Effects of dexamethasone preincubation (10 nM) for 24 h or 7 days on basal and VP- or ionomycin-stimulated total IP formation. Bars represent the percent of change from the values in cells preincubated in the absence of dexamethasone for each condition. 0 represents the values in the absence of dexamethasone preincubation The number of experiments is indicated in parentheses. *, P < 0.05 vs. VP stimulation in nondexamethasone-pretreated cells; **, P < 0.01 vs. VP stimulation in nondexamethasone-pretreated cells; #, P < 0.01 vs. 24 h dexamethasone.

 
To test the possibility that glucocorticoids potentiate ligand-stimulated phospholipase C at the level of the guanine nucleotide binding protein, the content of immunoreactive Gq was analyzed by Western blot after dexamethasone pretreatment in vivo and in vitro. As shown in Fig. 6Go, daily injection of dexamethasone for 7 days in rats caused a 2-fold increase in irG{alpha}q in anterior pituitary membranes (P < 0.05). Incubation of cultured pituitary cells with dexamethasone resulted in similar increases in irGq as measured by Western blot using either the antibody recognizing G{alpha}q/{alpha}11 or the G{alpha}q-specific antibody (Fig. 7aGo). The pooled values from the experiments with both antibodies, immunoreactive G{alpha}q increased by 78%, P < 0.05 (n = 4), and 119%, P < 0.01 (n = 5), over the values in nondexamethasone-treated cells, after 24 h or 7 days preincubation with dexamethasone, respectively (Fig. 7bGo).



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Figure 6. Changes in immunoreactive Gq in membranes from single pituitaries of rats receiving injections of dexamethasone or vehicle for 7 days. The bars are the mean and SE of the values obtained in 6 rats per group. *, P < 0.05 vs. nondexamethasone-treated controls.

 


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Figure 7. Changes in immunoreactive Gq in membranes from anterior pituitary cells cultured for 24 h or 7 days with or without 10 nM dexamethasone. a, Representative autoradiographs of the 42-kDa band corresponding to Gq band detected with the antibody which recognizes G{alpha}q and G{alpha}11 (anti-G{alpha}q/{alpha}11) or the specific anti G{alpha}q antibody (anti-G{alpha}q). The bars in panel b show the mean and SE of the pool of the values obtained in two experiments with each antibody for 24 h, and three experiments with anti-G{alpha}q/{alpha}11 and 2 with anti-G{alpha}q for 7 days. *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01.

 

    Discussion
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Glucocorticoids inhibit POMC transcription and ACTH secretory responses in the anterior pituitary. However, in vitro studies have shown that the effect of VP on ACTH secretion, unlike that of CRH, is resistant to feedback inhibition by glucocorticoids (16, 17). Because stress increases parvicellular expression and secretion of VP, refractoriness of the pituitary effects of VP to glucocorticoid feedback may contribute to the paradoxical facilitation of ACTH responses during stress. The present demonstration that glucocorticoids increase the coupling efficiency of the VP receptor in spite of decreasing VP receptor number, provide a mechanism for the preservation of the ACTH responses to VP in the presence of high glucocorticoids.

Not readily predictable was the fact the decrease in VP binding after glucocorticoid administration was not associated with decreases in V1b receptor mRNA. This lack of correlation between V1b-R mRNA and VP receptor number indicates that steady-state mRNA levels are not a primary determinant of receptor number. It is noteworthy that glucocorticoid withdrawal during long-term adrenalectomy also results in VP binding down-regulation but normal levels of V1b receptor mRNA (28). This paradoxical effect probably reflects interactions between glucocorticoids and hypothalamic factors in regulating V1b receptor number. Because glucocorticoids inhibit the expression and secretion of CRH and VP from parvicellular neurons (29, 30, 31), exogenous glucocorticoid excess may directly inhibit V1b-R synthesis at the posttranscriptional level, whereas a hypersecretion of hypothalamic regulators, mainly VP, would mediate the decrease of VP binding during adrenalectomy (18). From this perspective, the stimulatory effect of glucocorticoids on V1b receptor mRNA may be critical to sustain receptor synthesis and the increases in VP binding observed during stress (15).

While the experiments confirm previous reports showing pituitary VP receptor down-regulation after glucocorticoid administration (18, 19), the finding of increased VP-stimulated IP formation in pituitary fragments of dexamethasone-treated rats was unexpected. The paradoxical enhancement of VP-stimulated IP formation in the presence of reduced receptor content suggested that glucocorticoids alter the secretory effect of VP at a postreceptor level, possibly by increasing the coupling efficiency of the receptor to phospholipase C. Removal of endogenous glucocorticoids by surgical adrenalectomy also results in VP receptor down-regulation (4). However, in contrast to the effects of glucocorticoid administration, the loss of VP receptors following adrenalectomy is accompanied by a corresponding blunting of IP responses to VP (32). If glucocorticoids enhance VP-stimulated IP messenger formation as shown by the present data, it is likely that in addition to receptor down-regulation, decreased receptor coupling due to the lack of glucocorticoids contributes to decreased pituitary responses to VP observed during adrenalectomy.

Glucocorticoids administered in vivo could affect the coupling of V1b-R directly in the pituitary, or indirectly through inhibition of hypothalamic VP and CRH output into the pituitary portal circulation. The present experiments in vitro clearly show that glucocorticoids act directly in the pituitary corticotroph. Although the data show that glucocorticoids also potentiate the stimulatory effect of other PLC-coupled hormones in the pituitary, the effects on VP are like to represent activation of the V1b receptor in the corticotroph. VP is known to interact with the oxytocin receptor (25), and oxytocin receptors are present in lactotrophs (26) and gonadotrophs (27). However, the minor effect of the oxytocin antagonist on VP-stimulated IP formation can exclude that interaction of VP with oxytocin receptors is responsible for the present observations. Because the expression of V1a receptors in the anterior pituitary is negligible (33), it is likely that most of the potentiation of VP by glucocorticoids reflects V1b-R activity in the corticotroph.

A number of sites can be identified as potential loci for the effect of glucocorticoids on VP-stimulated IP formation. Because these experiments and previous reports (18, 19) have shown down-regulation of VP receptors in the pituitary following chronic glucocorticoid administration, the site of potentiation of PLC activity must reside at the postreceptor level. Other possible mechanisms include changes in calcium channels, PLC, or the GTP-binding protein, Gq. The potentiating effect of dexamethasone pretreatment on VP-stimulated IP formation was independent of calcium in the medium during exposure of the cells to VP. Thus, it is unlikely that the potentiating effect of glucocorticoids is due to an increase in calcium channels as has been described for vascular smooth muscle cells (34).

Ionomycin is believed to stimulate PLC directly by increasing cytosolic calcium and has been used as an index of PLC activity (35). If this assumption is correct, the fact that ionomycin-stimulated IP formation was not potentiated by glucocorticoids and that potentiation of VP-stimulated IP formation occurred in spite of reductions in ionomycin-stimulated IP formation after 24 h dexamethasone pretreatment, render it unlikely that changes in PLC mediate the potentiation of the effect of VP. On the other hand, it is not possible to rule out that glucocorticoids may have differential effects in the various pituitary cell types, or that changes in phospholipase C activity occur in specific cell compartments, thus masking effects in VP-sensitive enzyme pools. While elucidation of this problem will require further studies, the specificity of the effect of glucocorticoids for ligand-stimulated IP formation suggests that the mechanism of potentiation resides at a site between the receptor and PLC, such as the GTP binding protein, Gq.

A number of studies have demonstrated that GTP binding proteins can serve as targets for glucocorticoid regulation. The effects differ according to the type of G protein, the tissue studied, and the experimental conditions (in vivo vs. in vitro, time of exposure to the steroid, etc.). For example, glucocorticoids increase G{alpha}s in brain cortex (36) and GH3 cells (37), but they appear to decrease G{alpha}s in aortic smooth muscle (38). In contrast to Gs, G{alpha}i levels are under glucocorticoid inhibition in brain cortex (36) and spleen (39), and under stimulation in aortic smooth muscle (38). The increases in irG{alpha}q content shown in these experiments after dexamethasone pretreatment in vivo or in vitro, suggest that an increase in G protein is part of the mechanism by which glucocorticoids potentiate VP-stimulated IP formation in the pituitary corticotroph. Because corticotrophs represent 10% or less of the total pituitary cell population (40), the marked increase in Gq/11 probably reflects changes in other cell types in addition to corticotrophs and is consistent with the ability of glucocorticoids to enhance the effects of other PLC-coupled hormones tested in these experiments (GnRH, TRH).

In other systems, it has been suggested that an elevation of Gq levels by glucocorticoids contributes to the mechanism by which glucocorticoids induce sensitization to pressor hormones such as norepinephrine, VP and Ang II (41). In vitro studies have shown that incubation of vascular smooth muscle cells with dexamethasone enhances the increase in IP formation by these hormones (42, 43), though others using a similar experimental system have reported uncoupling of the Ang II receptor by glucocorticoids (44). In contrast to the pituitary V1b-R, vascular smooth muscle Ang and V1a receptors increase after in vitro incubation with glucocorticoids (45, 46), which would also contribute to the sensitizing action of glucocorticoids.

The present demonstration that glucocorticoids increase cellular levels of Gq in the pituitary, provides a mechanism that facilitates coupling to PLC in conditions of diminished receptor number. Increased coupling of the V1b-R with PLC is likely to serve as a mechanism by which VP maintains corticotroph responsiveness in spite of elevated levels of glucocorticoids during stress (5, 47). Sensitization of the pituitary corticotroph to VP by glucocorticoids could also explain the ACTH responses to desmopressin, an antidiuretic VP agonist with low affinity for the V1b-R, described in patients with Cushing’s disease (48). In summary, the data demonstrate that glucocorticoids increase coupling of the V1b-R with PLC, an effect that is likely mediated by increases in Gq content. These findings can explain the refractoriness to glucocorticoids of VP-stimulated ACTH release and provide a mechanism by which VP facilitates corticotroph responsiveness in spite of elevated levels of plasma glucocorticoids during stress.


    Acknowledgments
 
We would like to thank Dr. Tamas Balla, ERRB, NICHD, for helpful discussions; Dr. Stephen Lolait, NIMH, NIH, for the V1b-R clone and the CHD/OT-R cell line; Dr. Roger Freindinger, Merck Research Labs (West Point, PA), for the oxytocin antagonist, L-368,899; Drs. D. Martini, D. Philbert, and A. Ulmann (Roussel Uclaf, Paris, France), for the glucocorticoid antagonist, RU40555; Dr. William F. Simonds, NIDDK, NIH, for the Gq/11 antiserum; and Ms. Lora Wilson for helping with the preparation of the manuscript.

Received February 6, 1998.


    References
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 

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