Naloxone potentiates ACTH and angiotension II but not potassium stimulated aldosterone secretion, in vitro

Methionine enkephalin presynaptically facilitates and inhibits bullfrog sympathetic ganglionic transmission

The effects of [Met5]enkephalin (ME) on the fast excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) in bullfrog sympathetic ganglion cells were studied with intracellular recording in vitro. The variance and failure methods were used to calculate quantal content and quantal size of the fast EPSP in a low Ca2+/high Mg2+ solution. High concentrations of ME (1 and 10 microM) decreased the amplitude and the mean quantal content of the fast EPSP, whereas low concentrations (10 pM to 10 nM) of the peptide increased EPSP amplitude and quantal content. The mean quantal size of the EPSP was not changed by ME. The inhibitory effect of ME at high concentration (10 microM) was reversibly antagonized by the same concentration of naloxone; the facilitatory effect of ME at low concentration (1 nM) was not affected by 10 times higher concentration of naloxone (10 nM), but inhibited by 10 microM naloxone. A low concentration of naloxone (100 pM) itself increased the amplitude and the mean quantal content of the fast EPSP without changing the mean quantal size. The other concentrations of naloxone used in this study (1 pM to 10 microM) caused no significant change in the fast EPSP. ME (100 fM to 10 microM) and naloxone (1 pM to 10 microM) did not change the resting membrane potential or input resistance, the amplitude and duration of action potentials, and the sensitivity to the acetylcholine applied by iontophoresis. These results indicate that ME may act on preganglionic nerve terminals either to facilitate or to depress transmitter release; the inhibitory action is naloxone sensitive, whereas the facilitatory action is less sensitive to naloxone.

Effects of naloxone on adrenal cortex regulation in patients with primary aldosteronism

Excess production of proopiomelanocortin (POMC)-derived peptides with aldosterone-stimulating activity has been suggested to play a pathogenetic role in idiopathic hyperaldosteronism (IHA). To further investigate this issue, the opiate receptor antagonist naloxone was administered to 14 patients with primary aldosteronism, 6 with an aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA) and 8 with IHA. Clinical and hormonal effects of iv administration of naloxone (10 mg as a bolus) were compared with those obtained in 8 normal subjects. In normals as well as in APA and IHA patients, naloxone caused a significant increase in plasma cortisol, and no change in ACTH, plasma renin activity (PRA) and aldosterone levels. All subjects were retested after 2 mg dexamethasone. ACTH and cortisol were reduced and PRA was unchanged in all groups, without modifications after naloxone. Baseline aldosterone showed no significant changes in all groups. While normal subjects and APA failed to show any aldosterone response to naloxone after dexamethasone, IHA patients demonstrated a significant decrease. beta-endorphin concentrations were in the normal range before and after dexamethasone. In conclusion, naloxone may have a direct action upon adrenal zona fasciculata increasing the cortisol responsiveness to physiological levels of ACTH in either normals or APA and IHA patients. The decrease of aldosterone induced by naloxone in IHA may be due to an intraadrenal opioid control of zona glomerulosa in this disorder.

Effects of naloxone on the pituitary-adrenal axis in patients with dexamethasone-suppressible hyperaldosteronism

Endogenous opioids may normally modulate the function of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis. We investigated whether opioid peptides play any role on aldosterone secretion in dexamethasone-suppressible hyperaldosteronism (DSH). Clinical and hormonal effects of i.v. administration of naloxone (10 mg as a bolus) in two siblings affected by this disease and in eight normal volunteers were studied. In normals, naloxone caused a significant increase in plasma cortisol compared with placebo, an insignificant increase in ACTH and no change in plasma renin activity (PRA) and aldosterone level. In DSH patients there was a slight increase in plasma cortisol, no change in PRA and a marked rise of aldosterone level. In five normals retested after dexamethasone 2 mg, baseline ACTH and cortisol were reduced and no response to naloxone was observed compared to naloxone alone. After dexamethasone, aldosterone levels were suppressed in DSH patients and unchanged in normals, and did not respond to naloxone in any case. In conclusion, naloxone may increase the responsiveness of adrenal zona fasciculata to physiological levels of ACTH in normals, since the slight increase in ACTH seems inadequate to explain per se the marked cortisol elevation. The marked aldosterone rise after naloxone indicates an underlying adrenal rather than pituitary abnormality in patients with DSH, and possibly implicates endogenous opioids.

Corticosteroidogenesis modulation by beta-endorphin and dynorphin1-17 in isolated rat adrenocortical cells

Two opioid peptides, beta-endorphin and dynorphin1-17 were bioassayed with isolated rat adrenocortical cells. beta-Endorphin increases basal production of corticosterone as well as the adrenal responsiveness to low doses of ACTH, these effects being partially reversed by naloxone. Dynorphin1-17, without affecting basal corticosterone synthesis, increases adrenocortical responsiveness to ACTH; naloxone does not influence this effect. It is suggested that peripheral opioid peptides may participate in the maintenance of the homeostatic balance by modulating adrenal corticosteroidogenesis.

The relationship between tissue preparation and function; methods for the study of control of aldosterone secretion: a review

The study of the control of aldosterone synthesis and secretion by the rat adrenal gland has over the past thirty years involved the application of many different in vivo and in vitro techniques. In this review the relationship between the data that each of these methods has produced is compared. There are striking differences in overall steroid production rates, and in the qualitative nature of the steroid profile which the various methods produce. In particular, aldosterone is secreted at higher rates in vivo, and when whole tissue preparations are used in vitro, than in incubations of isolated glomerulosa cells. In addition, while corticosterone is a major product of glomerulosa tissue in vitro, the available evidence suggests that it is not a major glomerulosa product in vivo.