The Effect of Calcium on Steroidogenesis in Isolated Human Adrenal Cells

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The present experiment was planned to verify the effect of calcium on adenyl cyclase in isolated human adrenal cells. Normal adrenal glands were obtained surgically from patients with primary aldosteronism and advanced breast cancer. Isolated adrenal cells were prepared by the modified Haning's method. They were incubated at 37C under a gas mixture of 95 percent O2: 5 percent CO2 in calcium-free Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate buffer solution containing 0.2 percent glucose and 0.5 percent fatty acid-free bovine serum albumin, to which various doses of CaCl2 or ACTH were added. Thirty minutes later, cyclic-AMP was measured by cyclic-AMP assay kit (The Radio-chemical Center, Amersham). 11-OHCS was estimated fluorometrically by the modified Silber's method after incubation for 2 hours. In the calcium-free incubation medium, productions of 11-OHCS and cyclic-AMP were negligible. In the concentration of 2.54 mM/L of calcium, 11-OHCS production increased with significant difference statistically, while the increase of cyclic-AMP production was not significant. In the concentration of 12.70 mM/L of calcium, however, cyclic-AMP production increased remarkably. When ACTH was added to the incubation medium containing 2.54 mM/L of calcium, productions of 11-OHCS and cyclic-AMP also increased remarkably. These results indicate that adenyl cyclase of human adrenocortical cells is directly stimulated by calcium and suggest that calcium acts as the second messenger of ACTH.