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The trophic effects of chronic potassium loading on the rat zona glomerulosa were investigated by morphometric and radioimmunological methods. Potassium loading exerted a potent adrenoglomerulotrophic effect in saline treated control rats, but it was not able to reverse the captopril- and dexamethasone-induced atrophy of the zona glomerulosa. However, if the captopril/dexamethasone administered rats were given maintenance doses of angiotensin II and ACTH, potassium loading was found to exert a strong trophic action. The hypothesis is advanced that potassium loading requires the integrity of both the renin-angiotensin system and the hypothalamo-hypophyseal axis to exert its powerful direct stimulating effect on the growth and steroidogenic capacity of the rat zona glomerulosa.

Short-term (24 h) starvation induced a significant decrease in the liver weight and in the average volume of hepatocytes, together with a notable decrease in the hepatic concentration of proteins, glycogen, cholesterol and triglycerides. Hepatocyte atrophy was due for about 95% to the decrease in the membrane space, in which glycogen and endoplasmic reticulum membranes are contained, and for about 5% to the depletion of lipid droplets, in which cholesterol and triglycerides are stored. Nuclei, mitochondria and rough endoplasmic reticulum did not display appreciable modifications. The smooth endoplasmic reticulum underwent a net decrease, comparable with the decrease in the liver protein content, and the volume of dense-body compartment was increased, mainly through the rise in the number of microautophagic vacuoles and secondary lysosomes. These last findings were interpreted as the morphological counterpart of the fasting-induced enhancement of protein degradation in rat liver.

The morphology and function of isolated inner (zona fasciculata/reticularis) adrenocortical cells of rats pretreated with ACTH for 3, 6, 9 or 12 days were investigated. ACTH treatment induced a notable time-dependent enhancement in the steroidogenic capacity (corticosterone production) and growth of inner cells. The volumes of cells, mitochondrial compartment, membrane space [the cellular space occupied by smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER) membranes] and lipid-droplet compartment, as well as the surface area of mitochondrial cristae and SER tubules, were increased in relation to the duration of ACTH pretreatment, and showed a highly significant positive linear correlation with both basal and stimulated corticosterone production. The acute exposure of isolated cells to ACTH provoked a striking lipid-droplet depletion, the extent of which was linearly and positively correlated with stimulated corticosterone secretion. The hypertrophy of the mitochondrial compartment and SER are interpreted as the morphological counterpart of the enhanced steroidogenic capacity of inner adrenocortical cells, inasmuch as the enzymes of steroid synthesis are located in these two organelles, and it is well known that chronic ACTH exposure stimulates the de novo synthesis of many of them in vivo. The rise in the number of lipid droplets, in which cholesterol is stored, is interpreted as being due to the fact that, under chronic ACTH treatment, the processes leading to cholesterol accumulation in adrenocortical cells (exogenous uptake and endogenous synthesis) exceed those of its utilization in basal steroid secretion. Cholesterol accumulated in lipid droplets as a reserve material may be rapidly utilized after acute ACTH exposure to meet the needs of the enhanced steroidogenic capacity of adrenocortical cells.

A prolonged infusion with ANF induced atrophy of zona glomerulosa cells of rat adrenals and lowering of plasma concentration of aldosterone, without provoking significant changes in PRA. It also notably reduced the rise in the aldosterone plasma level caused by the acute stimulation with angiotensin II. Zona fasciculata cells and the blood concentration of corticosterone did not display any significant change. These findings are interpreted to indicate that ANF exerts an inhibitory effect on the growth and secretory activity of rat zona glomerulosa.

The effects of a 7-day administration of cyanoketone (CKT) on the adrenal zona fasciculata were examined in "normal" and dexamethasone/ACTH-infused rats. The drug caused a 48-56% decrease in the blood concentration of corticosterone, coupled with a 53-58% lowering in the activity of 3 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3 beta HSD), in both groups of animals. In the "normal" rats, CKT induced a significant hypertrophy of the zona fasciculata and its parenchymal cells, due to an increase in volume of the mitochondrial compartment and to proliferation of the smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER), as well as a notable rise in both the volume of the lipid-droplet compartment and the intracellular concentration of total cholesterol. The activity of 11 beta-hydroxylase was conspicuously enhanced. All these responses of zona fasciculata cells to CKT did not occur in dexamethasone/ACTH-treated animals, and therefore they were considered to be non-specific and mediated by the augmented secretion of ACTH following lowering of the corticosterone level in the blood. In the dexamethasone/ACTH-infused rats, the only morphological change induced by CKT was a significant decrease in the surface area per cell and surface density of the SER, which was interpreted as the morphological counterpart (not masked by the increased level of circulating ACTH) of the drug-induced inhibition of the microsomal 3 beta HSD.