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Evidence That Folliculo‐Stellate Cells Mediate the Inhibitory Effect of Japanese Kampo Medicine, Unkei‐To, on Growth Hormone Secretion in Rat Anterior Pituitary Cell Cultures
Author(s) -
Koike K.,
Zhang Z. X.,
Sakamoto Y.,
Miyake A.,
Inoue M.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
american journal of reproductive immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.071
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1600-0897
pISSN - 1046-7408
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0897.1998.tb00356.x
Subject(s) - anterior pituitary , medicine , endocrinology , secretion , hepatic stellate cell , kampo , cell culture , cytokine , paracrine signalling , pituitary gland , biology , hormone , receptor , pathology , genetics , alternative medicine
PROBLEM: Cytokine‐induced neutrophil chemoattractant (CINC) was reported to influence anterior pituitary hormone release. We recently found that Unkei‐to, one of the Japanese Kampo medicines, stimulated CINC secretion by rat anterior pituitary cells and the pituitary folliculo‐stellate (FS)‐like cell line (TtT/GF). Therefore, the effect of Unkei‐to on growth hormone (GH) secretion by rat anterior pituitary cells was investigated. METHOD OF STUDY: Dispersed normal anterior pituitary cells, the folliculo‐stellate‐like cell line TtT/GF, and the GH 3 cell were used to test the effect of Unkei‐to on GH secretion. In reconstitutive coculture experiments, TtT/GF cells were mixed with GH 3 cells at a ratio (TtT/GF cells: GH 3 cells) of 1:99. From this mixture, cells were seeded onto plates at a density of 10 4 cells/well and were cultured for 5 days. The cells were then used in the experiments. RESULTS: Unkei‐to at 20 μg/ml significantly inhibited GH secretion by normal anterior ptuitary cells within 12 hr of incubation. In contrast Unkei‐to stimulated GH secretion by GH 3 cells in a time‐ and dose‐dependent manner, suggesting that an accessory cell type was involved. To assess the contribution of CINC as a paracrine factor, an experiment using a reconstitutive coculture system was performed, and Unkei‐to was found to inhibit GH secretion when GH 3 cells were cocultured with TtT/GF cells. The addition of anti‐CINC antibody to the reconstitutive coculture system antagonized Unkei‐to‐inhibited GH secretion. CONCLUSION: CINC, which was secreted from FS cells by Unkei‐to, may be responsible for mediating the inhibitory effect of Unkei‐to on GH secretion by rat anterior pituitary cells.