Adenosine inhibits alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone release from frog pituitary melanotrophs via an A1 receptor subtype negatively coupled to adenylate cyclase

Ion channels and signaling in the pituitary gland

Endocrine pituitary cells are neuronlike; they express numerous voltage-gated sodium, calcium, potassium, and chloride channels and fire action potentials spontaneously, accompanied by a rise in intracellular calcium. In some cells, spontaneous electrical activity is sufficient to drive the intracellular calcium concentration above the threshold for stimulus-secretion and stimulus-transcription coupling. In others, the function of these action potentials is to maintain the cells in a responsive state with cytosolic calcium near, but below, the threshold level. Some pituitary cells also express gap junction channels, which could be used for intercellular Ca(2+) signaling in these cells. Endocrine cells also express extracellular ligand-gated ion channels, and their activation by hypothalamic and intrapituitary hormones leads to amplification of the pacemaking activity and facilitation of calcium influx and hormone release. These cells also express numerous G protein-coupled receptors, which can stimulate or silence electrical activity and action potential-dependent calcium influx and hormone release. Other members of this receptor family can activate calcium channels in the endoplasmic reticulum, leading to a cell type-specific modulation of electrical activity. This review summarizes recent findings in this field and our current understanding of the complex relationship between voltage-gated ion channels, ligand-gated ion channels, gap junction channels, and G protein-coupled receptors in pituitary cells.

Plasticity in the melanotrope neuroendocrine interface of Xenopus laevis

Melanotrope cells of the amphibian pituitary pars intermedia produce alpha-melanophore-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH), a peptide which causes skin darkening during adaptation to a dark background. The secretory activity of the melanotrope of the South African clawed toad Xenopus laevis is regulated by multiple factors, both classical neurotransmitters and neuropeptides from the brain. This review concerns the plasticity displayed in this intermediate lobe neuroendocrine interface during physiological adaptation to the environment. The plasticity includes dramatic morphological plasticity in both pre- and post-synaptic elements of the interface. Inhibitory neurons in the suprachiasmatic nucleus, designated suprachiasmatic melanotrope-inhibiting neurons (SMINs), possess more and larger synapses on the melanotrope cells in white than in black-background adapted animals; in the latter animals the melanotropes are larger and produce more proopiomelanocortin (POMC), the precursor of alpha-MSH. On a white background, pre-synaptic SMIN plasticity is reflected by a higher expression of inhibitory neuropeptide Y (NPY) and is closely associated with postsynaptic melanotrope plasticity, namely a higher expression of the NPY Y1 receptor. Interestingly, melanotrope cells in such animals also display higher expression of the receptors for thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) and urocortin 1, two neuropeptides that stimulate alpha-MSH secretion. Possibly, in white-adapted animals melanotropes are sensitized to neuropeptide stimulation so that, when the toad moves to a black background, they can immediately initiate alpha-MSH secretion to achieve rapid adaptation to the new background condition. The melanotrope cell also produces brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is co-sequestered with alpha-MSH in secretory granules within the cells. The neurotrophin seems to control melanotrope cell plasticity in an autocrine way and we speculate that it may also control presynaptic SMIN plasticity.