Abstract

The enzyme 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11β-HSD) catalyses the interconversion of corticosterone, the major glucocorticoid of the rat, and the biologically-inactive 11-dehydrocorticosterone. In the placenta, 11β-HSD is thought to regulate glucocorticoid transport between maternal and fetal compartments, and may also affect the local action of glucocorticoids. The present study assessed whether 11β-dehydrogenase (corticosterone to 11-dehydrocorticosterone) and 11-oxoreductase (11-dehydrocorticosterone to corticosterone) activities are both present in rat placenta, and whether these activities change with advancing pregnancy. Enzyme activity was estimated on days 16, 19 and 22 of pregnancy (term=day 23) in placental fragments incubated for 6 h with either [³H]corticosterone or [³H] 11-dehydrocorticosterone. The percentage conversion of these substrates to [³H] 11-dehydrocorticosterone and [³H] corticosterone, respectively, were determined at the end of the incubation. Both 11-oxoreductase and 11β-dehydrogenase activities were clearly evident in placental tissue fragments, and while 11-oxoreductase activity declined with advancing pregnancy (P<0·01), 11β-dehydrogenase activity increased (P<0·01). Thus, 11-oxoreductase exceeded (P<0·05) 11β-dehydrogenase at day 16, but thereafter activities were similar. These changes do not appear to be glucocorticoid-induced, since pretreatment of rats with either metyrapone or dexamethasone acetate from day 15 of pregnancy did not affect placental 11β-HSD on day 22. To allow comparison with earlier studies, estimates of 11β-HSD were also made in placental homogenates at each stage of pregnancy. In contrast to observations in placental fragments, 11β-dehydrogenase was always the dominant reaction in homogenates, presumably due to the loss of 11-oxoreductase activity following tissue homogenisation.

These data demonstrate that net 11β-dehydrogenase activity in the rat placenta increases towards term, thereby increasing the capacity for placental inactivation of active glucocorticoid. This pattern of 11β-HSD is consistent with reduced transfer of active glucocorticoid between the mother and fetus near term, and thus should promote independence of their hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axes.

Journal of Endocrinology (1994) 143, 505–513

ABSTRACT

This study assessed whether bioactive ACTH is released by the human placenta during perifusion in vitro at early and late gestation. Human placental villous fragments from early (8–12 weeks) and late (38–40 weeks) gestation were perifused at a constant rate for 6·5 h. To assess ACTH-like bioactivity released by this tissue, the perifusion effluent was redirected through adjacent chambers containing freshly dispersed adrenocortical cells obtained from adult rats. Baseline secretion of corticosterone by these adrenocortical cells averaged 95±26 (s.e.m.) fmol/min, and this increased at least fivefold (P <0·01, two-way ANOVA) in response to placental effluent at early and late gestation. The magnitude of this increase, expressed as a percentage of the maximal response to a subsequent stimulus with ACTH(1–24), was similar for placentas obtained at early (41 ± 12% of maximal response) and late (42 ± 17%) gestation. Immunoreactive (I)-ACTH was readily detectable in placental effluent from all preparations (5·5±2·3 fmol/min per g tissue), and there was no apparent difference with stage of gestation.

To determine whether all of the ACTH-like bioactivity released by the placenta was attributable to I-ACTH, a second series of placental/adrenal perifusions was conducted. In these, I-ACTH was selectively removed from placental effluent by immunoneutralization, and the residual bioactivity measured. Immunoneutralization involved preincubation of placental effluent with ACTH antiserum (1:100), and preincubation with normal rabbit serum (NRS) served as a control. Preincubation with ACTH antiserum, but not with NRS, resulted in a marked reduction in ACTH-like bioactivity present in placental effluent at both early (P <0·01, paired t-test) and late (P <0·05) gestation. This inhibition was significantly more effective (P <0·05, unpaired t-test) at early than at late gestation.

Overall, these data establish that the human placenta can release bioactive ACTH-like activity at both early and late gestation, and that much, but not all, of this bioactivity is directly attributable to I-ACTH. These findings clearly demonstrate a potential role for placental ACTH in directly influencing the maternal and/or fetal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axes during human pregnancy.

Journal of Endocrinology (1993) 136, 345–353

ABSTRACT

Both production rate and metabolic clearance rate (MCR) of progesterone may vary rapidly and so effect short-term changes in blood concentration of the hormone. Here, a constant infusion and sampling technique was used to estimate these three characteristics of progesterone metabolism in seven conscious and ten anaesthetized rats on day 16 of pregnancy. After steady state was achieved, four samples were collected during a 1-h period from each rat. Mean values for production rate and MCR of progesterone in conscious rats were 14·0 ±1·4 μmol/day and 63·2 ± 6·2 litres/day respectively. Both values were substantially reduced in anaesthetized rats (8.6 ±0·8 μmol/ day and 39·4± 3·4 litres/day respectively) and so blood concentration was unchanged. The production rate was positively related to the total mass of luteal tissue (common correlation coefficient, r = 0·61, P <0·05). There were no consistent changes in the three characteristics with time but variation within rats was high. The estimated coefficients of variation for production rate, MCR and blood concentration within rats were 26, 18 and 17% in conscious and 27, 20 and 23% in anaesthetized rats respectively. Short-term changes in production rate and MCR generally were in the same direction (P <0·05). This reduced variation in blood concentration which would otherwise have occurred if production rate and MCR were unrelated. The pregnant rat is clearly capable of rapid shifts in production rate, MCR and blood concentration of progesterone and the positive relationship between production rate and MCR has a homeostatic effect on blood concentration.

J. Endocr. (1984) 102, 357–363

Abstract

This study examined changes in the blood concentration of corticosterone with the onset and progression of pregnancy in the rat. To identify the source of variation in blood corticosterone, the metabolic clearance rate (MCR) and production rate of corticosterone were also determined. Measurements were made in conscious rats (n=4–7 per group) in the morning of dioestrus and days 5, 10, 16 and 22 of pregnancy (term=day 23). Corticosterone levels were 713 ±38 nmol/l (mean±s.e.m.) in non-pregnant rats, remained unchanged to day 10 of pregnancy, then increased to 1036 ± 52 nmol/l by day 16 and remained high at day 22. The production rate of corticosterone appeared to increase during pregnancy from 25·6±1·7 μmol/day on day 10 to reach 36·3±3·3 mol/day on day 22, but this did not reach statistical significance (one-way ANOVA). The MCR of corticosterone was similar among all groups (overall mean 34·6±2·5 1/day), although a slight but non-significant fall was apparent at day 16. When account was taken of changes in maternal weight, the MCR decreased progressively from 139± 10 1/day per kg before pregnancy to reach a minimum of 88 ±7 1/day per kg on day 16. Transuterine extraction of corticosterone on day 22 of pregnancy was 19·2±3·1% and so, based on this and estimates of uterine blood flow, the uterus must account for around 15% of corticosterone clearance at this time. Because this uterine contribution is effectively additional clearance, it is likely that without it the MCR of corticosterone would have fallen during pregnancy. Administration of ACTH (1–24) (3·5 nmol) increased the production rate of corticosterone at dioestrus and at day 16 of pregnancy, but this effect was less marked in the pregnant group (134% and 41% increase respectively). The MCR of corticosterone also rose (17%) following ACTH(1–24) administration in pregnant but not dioestrous rats. This difference in the MCR response is likely to reflect pregnancy-induced changes in the relative levels of corticosterone, progesterone and corticosteroid-binding globulin.

In conclusion, this study shows that blood levels of corticosterone increase progressively during pregnancy in conscious rats. This increase apparently resulted from the net effects of increased production and decreased MCR, neither of which reached statistical significance. It would appear, however, that the trend toward increased production of corticosterone contributes more to the rise in blood corticosterone than does MCR, since the latter was more effectively maintained at pre-pregnancy levels. The demonstration of significant transuterine extraction of corticosterone at day 22 suggests that the maintenance of corticosterone clearance late in pregnancy is due, in part, to an additional contribution by the uterus and its contents.

Journal of Endocrinology (1994) 143, 183–190

We have sought to determine whether the rate of ovarian progesterone secretion in pregnant rats is inversely related to the arterial plasma progesterone concentrations. For this purpose, rates of ovarian progesterone secretion were measured on day 16 of pregnancy in seven progesterone-treated and eight untreated rats. Treated rats received once-daily s.c. injections of 63·6 μmol progesterone in peanut oil on days 13 to 16. In a separate experiment, this treatment was found to produce a relatively stable fivefold increase in plasma progesterone concentrations. The rate of ovarian blood flow was increased in treated animals (mean ± s.e.m.; treated, 0·63± 0·08 ml/min; untreated, 0·43± 0·08 ml/min) but the progesterone secretion rate was unchanged (treated, 1·13 ± 0·20 μmol/day per ovary; untreated, 1·05 ± 0·15 μmol/day per ovary). The stability of the progesterone secretion rate in the face of a fivefold increase in plasma progesterone concentration implies a lack of negative feedback from progesterone in plasma in the regulation of ovarian progesterone secretion.

The role of placental luteotrophins in modulating plasma progesterone concentrations and ovarian progesterone secretion was examined in 16-day pregnant rats. In an initial experiment rats were placentectomized and their plasma progesterone concentrations monitored for 24 h; the rats were conscious within 30 min of placentectomy. Relative to control values, progesterone concentrations fell significantly within 0·5 h. A venous outflow technique was then used to monitor rates of progesterone secretion from ovaries of hysterectomized and control rats maintained under anaesthesia. Hysterectomy had no apparent effect on either progesterone secretion or plasma progesterone concentrations for at least 2 h. A final experiment was carried out to compare the effects of hysterectomy on plasma progesterone concentrations in conscious rats with those of placentectomized rats of the first experiment. Progesterone concentrations did not change significantly in hysterectomized rats for 4 h but fell to very low values by 24 h. These results suggest that placental luteotrophins do not have an acute, direct role in the control of plasma progesterone levels but are needed to maintain progesterone secretion in the longer term and possibly inhibit uterine luteolysin release.

ABSTRACT

The basal concentrations of progesterone in plasma of 16-day pregnant rats were measured after seven different sampling procedures. Progesterone concentrations in serial samples from rats held at the time of sampling (restrained group) were compared with those obtained from rats allowed to remain free in their cage (free group). In addition, the effects on plasma progesterone concentrations of anaesthesia induced by ether or pentobarbitone sodium, and of adrenalectomy and/or ovariectomy were studied. Over the 8-h sampling period, progesterone concentrations in the plasma of restrained rats, with or without anaesthesia, were about 30% higher and more variable than those in free rats. Progesterone concentrations rose sharply over the first 30 min in restrained rats and in those treated with ether. Rats adrenalectomized the day before sampling did not show this early rise and their progesterone concentrations were similar to those of free rats. Progesterone concentrations were lowest in ovariectomized rats which had also been adrenalectomized. These findings show that adrenal secretion can increase plasma concentrations of progesterone in pregnant rats which have been handled or anaesthetized. Such a rise might well modulate the effects of experimental stimuli.

J. Endocr. (1984) 100, 189–193