Open AccessEffect of transforming growth factor beta-1 on the cholesterol side-chain cleavage system in the adrenal gland of sheep fetuses and newborns.
Author(s) -
Elisabeth Naaman-Répérant,
Dale B. Hales,
Philippe Durand
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
endocrinology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.674
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1945-7170
pISSN - 0013-7227
DOI - 10.1210/endo.137.3.8603599
Subject(s) - adrenodoxin , cholesterol side chain cleavage enzyme , medicine , endocrinology , fetus , pregnenolone , biology , cholesterol , adrenal cortex , steroidogenic acute regulatory protein , adrenal gland , biochemistry , steroid , pregnancy , hormone , metabolism , cytochrome p450 , messenger rna , genetics , gene
The present work examined the effect of transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGFbeta1) on the cholesterol side-chain cleavage system of sheep fetal and neonatal adrenal glands. Freshly isolated fetal adrenal cells produced 3-fold less pregnenolone from 22R- hydroxycholesterol than neonatal cells. Also, the relative amounts of immunoreactive cytochrome P450 side-chain cleavage (P450scc), adrenodoxin, and adrenodoxin reductase were 1.5- to 2-fold lower in mitochondria from fetal than neonatal cells. However, during culture under control conditions, the cholesterol side-chain cleavage activity and the amounts of P450scc, adrenodoxin, and adrenodoxin reductase of fetal cells increased after 48 h to reach neonatal values. A 5-day treatment with TGFbeta1 (1ng/ml) decreased significantly both the cholesterol side-chain cleavage activity and the amounts of immunoreactive P450scc, adrenodoxin, and adrenodoxin reductase in sheep fetal and neonatal adrenal cells in culture. Immunoreactive TGFbeta1- like material was present in freshly isolated adrenal cells from both fetuses and newborn lambs. After 2 days of culture, the amount of TGFbeta1-like protein was 2-fold lower than in freshly isolated fetal cells. No change was observed for neonatal cells. Finally, TGFbeta1 encoding messenger RNAs and TGFbeta-like immunoreactive protein were much higher in adrenal cortices from fetuses than from neonates. Taken together, these results have made TGFbeta1 a potentially attractive candidate for being an auto/paracrine negative regulator of the cholesterol side-chain cleavage system in the sheep fetal adrenal gland.