Open AccessInterleukin‐6 and ACTH act synergistically to stimulate the release of corticosterone from adrenal gland cells
Author(s) -
SALAS M. A.,
EVANS S. W.,
LEVELL M. J.,
WHICHER J. T.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
clinical & experimental immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.329
H-Index - 135
eISSN - 1365-2249
pISSN - 0009-9104
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2249.1990.tb08114.x
Subject(s) - corticosterone , medicine , endocrinology , adrenal gland , stimulation , collagenase , glucocorticoid , interleukin , chemistry , biology , cytokine , hormone , enzyme , biochemistry
SUMMARY We investigated whether interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) could cause the release of corticosterone by a direct interaction with the adrenal gland. Primary cultures of rat adrenal glands were obtained by dispersion with collagenase and incubated for 24 h with different doses of IL‐6. Levels of corticosterone were measured by competitive protein binding assay. A significant ( P < 0.025) dose‐dependent increase in corticosterone levels was seen at all doses used. Time course experiments demonstrated that IL‐6 stimulated corticosterone release over a period of 24 h but not after 12 or 3 h. The stimulation of adrenal cells with different doses of ACTH 1–24 and 40 U/ml of IL‐6 showed a synergistic effect when IL‐6 was combined with low concentrations of ACTH 1–24 (2 and 20 pmol/ l ). This effect was not evident at higher doses. Our results suggest that IL‐6 may act at different levels of the hypothalmic pituitary adrenal axis. Moreover the finding of a synergistic effect with ACTH 1–24 indicates that IL‐6 could play a role in the long term response to stress.