A mouse pituitary tumor cell line (AtT-20) releases corticotropin (ACTH) in response to a number of secretagogues, iWciuding corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), j3-adrenergic aints, N6,02'-dibutyryladenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (Bt2 cAMP), and potassium. The AtT-20 mouse pituitary cell line is a well-characterized model system to study corticotropin (ACTH) secretion. These cells release ACTH in response to a number of secretagogues, including corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), isoproterenol, vasoactive intestinal peptide, the Ca2+ ionophore A23187, and potassium (1). It has been shown that the second messengers cAMP and Ca2+ (1), as well as phospholipid methylation (2), are involved in the mediation of these secretory responses. There has also been indirect evidence suggesting that arachidonic acid and/or its metabolites may be involved in ACTH secretion in AtT-20 cells. Phorbol esters and melittin, activators of phospholipase A2 (3-7), the enzyme that liberates arachidonic acid from lipids, are potent stimulators of ACTH secretion (8, 9). The synthetic corticosterone dexamethasone, which exerts some of its actions by inhibiting phospholipase A2 (10), blocks ACTH release (1). These findings prompted an investigation as to whether arachidonic acid or one or more of its many metabolites are involved in receptor-mediated ACTH secretion.Arachidonic acid is metabolized via three pathways: cycloxygenase, which generates prostaglandins and tromboxanes, lipoxygenase, which forms leukotrienes, and the NADPH-dependent cytochrome P-450 enzymes (epoxygenase), which forms epoxide metabolites (11). To ascertain whether metabolites of these pathways are involved in ACTH release, inhibitors of each of these enzymes as well as phospholipase A2 were used. We find that inhibitors of phospholipase A2, lipoxygenase, and epoxygenase, but not cycloxygenase, block the release of ACTH in AtT-20 cells.
MATERIALS AND METHODSSynthetic CRF was obtained from Bachem Fine Chemicals (Torrance, CA), (-)-isoproterenol (+)-bitartrate, human serum albumin, 3-isobutyl-1-methylx4thine (IBMX), melittin, phorbol myristate acetate, nordihydrbguaieretic acid, butylated hydroxytoluene, p-bromophenacyl-bromide, mepacrine, A23187, N6,02'-dibutyryladenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (Bt2cAMP), 8-bromoadenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (8-Br-cAMP), and barbital were from Sigma. Forskolin was purchased from Calbiochem-Behring. Icosatetraynoic acid was kindly supplied by F. Hirata. Piperonyl butoxide and 2-diethylaminoethyl-2,2-diphenylvalerate (SKF 525A) were a generous gift from J. Gillette.Cell Culture Methods. AtT-20/D16-16 cells were grown and subcultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DME medium) with 10% calf serum, as described (12). Cells were plated in 30-mm (diameter) culture dishes at an initial density of 1.5 x 105 cells per well and were used 5-6 days after plating (60-80% confluency). For ACTH secretion studies, cells were equilibrated for 30 min at 37°C in 1 ml of DME medium/25 mM Hepes, pH 7.4, containing bovine s...