CORTICOSTERONE METABOLISM BY RAT ADRENOCORTICAL CELL SUSPENSIONS AND MONOLAYER CULTURES: THE EFFECT OF DAMAGE ON 11-DEHYDROGENASE ACTIVITY

Abstract

SUMMARY The metabolism of [3H]corticosterone by freshly disaggregated suspensions and deliberately damaged monolayer cultures of rat adrenocortical cells has been examined. In both cases, increased yields of 11-dehydrocorticosterone were obtained compared with intact, undamaged monolayer cultures, in which effective 11-dehydrogenase activity was extremely low. It was concluded that the greater part of the effective 11-dehydrogenase activity of the freshly prepared adrenal cell suspension was due to cells damaged by the disaggregation procedure. The maximum rate at which corticosterone was converted to 11-dehydrocorticosterone by the suspensions was equivalent to at least 50 ng/million cells/h. Undamaged monolayer cultures did not metabolize more than 0·2 ng of corticosterone/million cells/h to 11-dehydrocorticosterone.