Summary
A simple, rapid procedure for the quantitation of the histochemical stain for Δ5-3β-dehydrogenase (3β-HSD) in cultured cells is described. Adrenocortical cells were stained for 3β-HSD and then solubilized with 0.5N NaOH. The absorbance of the solubilized cell solution was measured at 570 nm and a linear relationship was obtained between the number of cells and the intensity of the absorption. It is shown that the regulation of 3β-HSD activity in primary cultures of normal rat adrenocortical cells can be monitored by the quantitative histochemical assay. The results show a good correlation with the data obtained by a biochemical assay for the enzyme.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Wattenberg, L. W. Microscopic histochemical demonstration of steroid-3β-ol dehydrogenase in tissue sections. J. Histochem. Cytochem. 6: 225–232; 1958.
Dawson, I. M. P.; Pryse-Davies, J.; Snape, I. M. The histochemical distribution of steroid 3βol dehydrogenase and dephosphopyridine nucleotide diaphorase in the adrenal cortex. Biochem. J. 78: 16P; 1961.
Slavinsky, E.; Auersperg, N.; Jull, J. W. Propagation in vitro of functional rat adrenocortical cells: modification of the differentiated state by culture conditions. In Vitro 9: 260–266; 1974.
Gospodarowicz, D.; Ill, C. R.; Hornsby, P. J.; Gill, G. N. Control of cell proliferation by fibroblast growth factor. Lack of effect of epidermal growth factor. Endocrinology 100: 1080–1088; 1977.
Muir, A.; Calman, K.; Thomas, J.; MacSween, M.; Milno, J.; Chakraborty, J.; Grant, J. Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity in human skin. Br. J. Dermatol. 80: 594–600; 1968.
Altman, F. P. Studies on the reduction of tetrazolium salts. Histochemistry 38: 155–171; 1974.
Etherton, J. E.; Conning, D. M. The demonstration of mouse lung lactate-yellow tetrazolium reductase. Histochemie 33: 287–290; 1973.
Tsang, C.; Carball, A. Enzyme activities in the preincubation media from adrenal tissue incubations. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 122: 1031–1035; 1966.
Levy, H.; Deane, H. W.; Rubin, B. L. Visualization of steroid 3β-ol-dehydrogenase activity in tissues of intact and hypophysectomized rats. Endocrinology 65: 932–943; 1959.
Liles, S.; Ramachandran, J. Regulation of Δ5-3β-dehydrogenase—isomerase activity in adrenocortical cell cultures by adrenocorticotropin. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 79: 226–233; 1977.
Canova-Davis, E.; Ramachandran, J. Chemical modification of the tryptophan residue in adrenocorticotropin. Biochemistry 15: 921–926; 1976.
Ramachadran, J.; Suyama, A. T. Inhibition of replication of normal adrenocortical cells by adrenocorticotropin. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 72: 113–117; 1975.
Kahri, A. Histochemical and electron microscopic studies on the cells of the rat adrenal cortex in tissue culture. Acta Endocrinol. (Suppl. 108) 52: 26; 1966.
Ramachandran, J.; Rao, D. J.; Liles, S. Studies of the trophic action of ACTH. Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 297: 336–348; 1977.
O'Connor, J. L.; Edwards, D. P.; Bransome, E. D. Localizing steroid dehydrogenase activity on acrylamide gels. Anal. Biochem. 78: 205–212; 1977.
Goldberg, B.; Jones, G. E. S.; Borkowf, H. I. A histochemical study of substrate specificity for the steroid 3β-ol-hydrogenase and isomerase systems in human ovary and testis. J. Histochem. Cytochem. 12: 880–889; 1964.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This work was supported by National Cancer Institute Grant CA-16417.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rybak, S.M., Ramachandran, J. Primary culture of normal rat adrenocortical cells. In Vitro 17, 605–611 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02618459
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02618459