Corticotropin releasing factor increases proopiomelanocortin messenger RNA in mouse anterior pituitary tumor cells.

The ability of corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) to stimulate adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) synthesis in corticotrophs was assessed by measuring total cell content of ACTH and the levels of proopiomelanocortin (POMC) mRNA in a cloned tumor cell line of the mouse anterior pituitary (AtT-20/D16-16). CRF treatment caused a time-dependent increase in POMC mRNA levels (measured using a hybridization technique) as well as elevating total ACTH content in AtT-20 cells. The increase in POMC mRNA levels preceded changes in ACTH content and slowly returned toward control levels after CRF withdrawal. The rise in POMC mRNA levels following CRF stimulation appeared to be specific since beta-actin mRNA levels were not affected by CRF treatment. Both 8-bromo-cAMP and phorbol ester increased POMC mRNA levels in AtT-20 cells, suggesting that CRF may act through different protein kinases to regulate the POMC gene. CRF appears to activate the POMC gene since treatment of the AtT-20 cells with the peptide increased the levels of an RNA species in the nuclei having the expected molecular weight of the transcript of the POMC gene. The results indicate that continued exposure of corticotrophs to CRF induces long term increases in the ACTH synthetic capacity of those cells.