Endocrine Abstracts

Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) is known to be produced and secreted by normal rat corticotropes and to contribute in a paracrine manner to POMC synthesis and ACTH secretion in these cells. The regulation of intrapituitary CRH however still has to be clarified.Aim: This study was to establish whether CRH gene expression can be measured in rat pituitaries in vitro and whether CRH modulates its own gene expression within the pitu...

Pomc synthesis and ACTH secretion by the anterior pituitary are controlled by two major, opposing players namely CRH and glucocorticoids. Most studies were performed on the AtT-20 mouse corticotroph tumor cell line or Pomc-transfected cells.Aim: Aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of CRH and DEX on Pomc expression and ACTH secretion in normal rat corticotropes in vitro.Methods: Rat anteri...

DNA methylation has recently been shown to play a role in postnatal as well as developmental gene regulation. Transfer and removal of methyl groups from CpG islands in the promoter region of specific genes has been associated with gene silencing or activation, respectively. POMC is known to present several methylation sites and demethylation of these sites has been shown to be linked to POMC expression by neuroendocrine tumors outside the pituitary.<p class="...