Properties of dispersed cells from rat adrenals

Abstract

Using the physical methods of unit gravity (1 g) sedimentation and column filtration (Sephadex) on the rat collagenase-dispersed adrenal gland (either capsule or decapsulated gland), purified preparations of all three cell types, zonae glomerulosa, fasciculata and reticularis, were obtained. Morphological studies have determined the modal diameters of the cells to be: zona glomerulosa, 10.5 μm; zona fasciculata, 18 μmm; zona reticularis, Type I, 9 μm, and Type II, 13 μm. All types of adrenal cell produced at least one corticoid in common, corticosterone. Zona glomerulosa cells responded to small changes in potassium ion (K +) concentration (×2.3 corticosterone output), angiotensin II (× 1.7 corticosterone output), ACTH ( × 3 corticosterone output) and in vitro, serotonin ( × 2.1 corticosterone output). Aldosterone was produced exclusively by the zona glomerulosa cells. Zona reticularis cells had a different quantitative pattern of steroid output compared with zona fasciculata cells such that the ratio of total 11-oxygenated steroids/deoxycorticosterone may be used to characterise the different cells. ACTH stimulated steroidogenesis (corticosterone output) in all three types of adrenal cell (zona reticularis, × 19.5; zona fasciculata, × 130; zona glomerulosa, × 3). The effect of ACTH on the corticosterone output of the zona reticularis and fasciculata cells was, in part, due to an alteration in the biosynthesis favouring corticosterone rather than 11-dehydrocorticosterone after stimulation. There was a minor effect on total 11-oxygenation in zona fasciculata cells