Stimulatory effect of prolactin on the mitotic activity of the adrenal cortex in snell mice with hereditary dwarfism

Effects of thyrotropin (TSH), growth hormone (GH), prolactin (Prl), and ACTH on the proliferation of adrenocortical cells in male Snell dwarf mice and in phenotypically normal male mice from the same strain were examined by means of the colchicine metaphase-arrest technique. After 6 days of treatment, ACTH increased significantly the mean mitotic activity rate (MMAR) of adrenocortical cells in both the normal (nondwarf) and dwarf mice as compared to the corresponding control groups receiving physiologic saline. None of the remaining examined pituitary hormones did exert a mitogenic action on the adrenal cortex of normal mice. It was, however, recorded the significant elevation of the MMAR of the adrenocortical cells in Prl-treated Snell dwarf mice, while TSH and GH did not stimulate mitogenesis. The acquired data corroborate a well-known proliferogenic effect of ACTH on the adrenal cortex in vivo. The increase of the MMAR of the adrenal cortex of Snell dwarfs following Prl-treatment is in agreement with earlier reports.