This site uses cookies, tags and tracking settings to store information that help give you the very best browsing experience. If you don't change your settings, we'll assume you're happy with this. More information Dismiss this warning

Stimulatory effect of caffeine on the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis in the rat

in Journal of Endocrinology
Author:
S. A. Nicholson
Search for other papers by S. A. Nicholson in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1677/joe.0.1220535
Volume/Issue:
Volume 122: Issue 2
Article Type:
Research Article
Page Range:
535–543
Online Publication Date:
Aug 1989
Restricted access
Rent on DeepDyve

Sign up for journal news

ABSTRACT

Intraperitoneal injection of caffeine (12·5–100 mg/kg) into rats caused a significant, dose-related increase in plasma corticosterone 2 h later, when the greatest response was measured. The corticosterone response to laparotomy stress or i.v. injection of ACTH(1–24) was unaffected by prior injection of caffeine. The response to stress or caffeine was unaffected by adrenal enucleation 28 days previously.

In vitro, 10 mmol caffeine/l stimulated basal release of corticosterone from adrenal quarters and potentiated the response to a sub-maximal stimulatory concentration of cyclic AMP (cAMP). The drug had no effect on release stimulated by a sub-maximal concentration of ACTH(1–24).

Release of ACTH from pituitary fragments incubated in vitro was stimulated in a dose-related manner by caffeine (0·01–10 mmol/l), and the responses to hypothalamic extract and sub-maximal concentrations of corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF-41) or arginine vasopressin (AVP), but not cAMP, were significantly enhanced by 10 mmol caffeine/l.

Release of immunoreactive CRF-41 (but not AVP) was significantly increased by caffeine (0·01–10 mmol/l) added to hypothalami incubated in vitro. The response to injection of caffeine in vivo was completely prevented by pharmacological blockade of endogenous CRF release.

Taken together, these results show that caffeine at high concentrations can stimulate directly the release of the hormones of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis in vitro, but the fact that these concentrations are unlikely to be reached after administration in vivo suggests that the effect of caffeine may be mediated centrally.

Journal of Endocrinology (1989) 122, 535–543

Journal of Endocrinology is committed to supporting researchers in demonstrating the impact of their articles published in the journal.

The two types of article metrics we measure are (i) more traditional full-text views and pdf downloads, and (ii) Altmetric data, which shows the wider impact of articles in a range of non-traditional sources, such as social media.

More information is on the Reasons to publish page.

Sept 2018 onwards Past Year Past 30 Days
Full Text Views 5 3 0
PDF Downloads 6 3 0

 

  • Collapse
  • Expand
Print ISSN:
0022-0795
Online ISSN:
1479-6805
Volume 122: Issue 2
Page(s):
9
Article Type:
Research Article
Print Publication Date:
01 Jan 1989
Online Publication Date:
Aug 1989