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Horm Metab Res 1998; 30(6/07): 323-328
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-978892
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© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Local Non-Synaptic Modulation of Aldosterone Production by Catecholamines and ATP in Rat: Implications for a Direct Neuronal Fine Tuning

K. Sz. Szalay1 , E. Orsó2 , Z. Jurányi1 , G. P. Vinson3 , E. S. Vizi1
  • 1Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
  • 2Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
  • 3Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Queen Mary and Westfield College, London, U.K.
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Publication History

1997

1998

Publication Date:
20 April 2007 (online)

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In addition to hypophyseal control, steroid synthesis and secretion in the adrenal cortex is also under direct local neural modulation. We obtained morphological and neurochemical evidence that a substantial proportion of the noradrenergic nerve endings lie in close proximity to zona glomerulosa cells without making synaptic contact, thus providing evidence for a direct local modulatory role of catecholamines in steroid secretion. These noradrenergic neurones, like other noradrenergic neurones in the central nervous system, are able to take up dopamine (DA), convert it partly into noradrenaline (NA) and to release both NA and DA together with the co-transmitter ATP when neuronal activity drives them to do so. These catecholamines and ATP may reach zona glomerulosa cells via diffusion in a paracrine way and modulate the synthesis of aldosterone. The presence of ecto-Ca-ATPases, enzymes that may terminate the effect of ATP, was demonstrated around the nerve profiles indicating that not only ATP but its metabolites (ADP, AMP, adenosine) can also influence the production of aldosterone. These data strongly support the possibility of a paracrine, non-synaptic modulatory role of catecholamines and ATP in the regulation of adrenocortical steroid secretion.

Key words

Adrenal Cortex - Zona Glomerulosa - Noradrenaline - Dopamine - Neural Regulation

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