Effects of Protein Kinase-C-Related Adrenocorticotropin Secretagogues and Interleukin-1 on Proopiomelanocortin Gene Expression in Rat Anterior Pituitary Cells*

To examine the effects of the cAMP-independent protein kinase-C system and interleukin-1 (IL-1) on secretion of ACTH and POMC gene expression in cultured rat anterior pituitary (AP) cells, AP cells were incubated with CRF, 8-bromo-cAMP, arginine vasopressin, angiotensin II, norepinephrine, and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate. After 15 h of incubation, CRF and 8-bromo-cAMP increased both ACTH release and the POMC mRNA level. Arginine vasopressin, angiotensin II, norepinephrine, or phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate stimulated ACTH release but failed to increase basal or CRFstimulated POMC mRNA levels. Human recombinant IL-lα and -β increased neither ACTH release nor POMC mRNA levels after 3 h of incubation. After 15 h of incubation, 100 pM to 10 nM IL-lα and -β increased ACTH release. However, POMC mRNA levels were significantly elevated only by 10 pM IL-1β. These results suggest that the CRF-cAMP system plays a major role in both ACTH release and expression of the POMC gene in AP cells, but the cAMP-independ...