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The Herbicide Atrazine Potentiates Angiotensin II-Induced Aldosterone Synthesis and Release From Adrenal Cells.

ABSTRACT: Atrazine is one of the most commonly used pre-emergence and early post-emergence herbicides in the world. We have shown previously that atrazine does not directly stimulate the pituitary or adrenal to trigger hormone release but acts centrally to activate a stress-like activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. In doing so, atrazine treatment has been shown to cause adrenal morphology changes characteristic of repeated stress. In this study, adrenals from atrazine treated and stressed animals were directly compared after 4 days of atrazine treatment or restraint stress. Both atrazine and stressed animals displayed reduced adrenocortical zona glomerulosa thickness and aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2) expression, indicative of repeated adrenal stimulation by adrenocorticotropic hormone. To determine if reduced CYP11B2 expression resulted in attenuated aldosterone synthesis, stressed and atrazine treated animals were challenged with angiotensin II (Ang II). As predicted, stressed animals produced less aldosterone compared to control animals when stimulated. However, atrazine treated animals had higher circulating aldosterone concentrations compared to both stressed and control groups. Ang II-induced aldosterone release was also potentiated in atrazine pretreated human adrenocortical carcinoma cells (H295R). Atrazine pretreated did not alter the expression of the rate limiting steroidogenic StAR protein or angiotensin II receptor 1. Atrazine treated animals also presented with higher basal blood pressure than vehicle treated control animals suggesting sustained elevations in circulating aldosterone levels. Our results demonstrate that treatment with the widely used herbicide, atrazine, directly increases stimulated production of aldosterone in adrenocortical cells independent of expression changes to rate limiting steroidogenic enzymes.

SUBMITTER: Zimmerman AD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8317615 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Angiotensin II (AngII) plays a crucial role in the control of aldosterone biosynthesis in adrenal glomerulosa cells through the stimulation of two distinct Ca2+ entry pathways: (1) opening of voltage-operated calcium channels, and (2) activation of a capacitative Ca2+ entry that is dependent on calcium release from intracellular pools. Adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), on the other hand, a major hormonal regulator of steroidogenesis, induces an increase in intracellular cAMP through the activation of a G-protein-coupled adenylyl cyclase. Recent studies have demonstrated that the rise in cAMP induced by ACTH can be potentiated by AngII in bovine glomerulosa cells. The aim of the present study was to investigate the mechanism of AngII action on ACTH-induced cAMP production. In primary cultures of bovine glomerulosa cells, we found that AngII (100 nM), which had no effect by itself on cAMP production, significantly potentiated maximal ACTH-induced cAMP formation in the presence of extracellular calcium (1.2 mM). In contrast, in the absence of extracellular calcium, AngII did not affect ACTH-induced cAMP production. These results suggest that calcium entry into the cell plays an important role in the activation of the cyclase by AngII. The inhibition of voltage-operated calcium channels by nicardipine, a dihydropyridine calcium antagonist blocking both low-threshold (T-type) and high-threshold (L-type) Ca2+ channels, did not significantly affect the potentiating effect of AngII. Moreover, the cAMP response to ACTH was insensitive to activation of these Ca2+ channels induced by potassium ions and, even when cytosolic free-calcium concentration ([Ca2+]c) was kept elevated with the Ca2+ ionophore, ionomycin, no stimulation of adenylyl cyclase was observed at concentrations of [Ca2+]c up to 640 nM. In contrast, thapsigargin, an activator of capacitative Ca2+ influx, mimicked the potentiating effect of AngII on ACTH-induced cAMP formation. In agreement with the characteristics of cAMP modulation by Ca2+ in these cells, the presence of type III adenylyl cyclase was observed by immunodetection in bovine glomerulosa cell membranes. In conclusion, these data suggest a tight coupling between the capacitative Ca2+ influx induced upon stimulation by either AngII or thapsigargin and a calcium-sensitive isoform of adenylyl cyclase, probably type III, in bovine glomerulosa cells.

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The Herbicide Atrazine Potentiates Angiotensin II-Induced Aldosterone Synthesis and Release From Adrenal Cells.

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